


An Autumn Time

by bafflinghaze



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: A tiny bit of flangst, Almost drabble like, Different types of cakes, Fluff, Food mentions, Grimmauld Place, Living Together, Lycanthropy research and treatment, M/M, Mentions of the Great British Bake Off, Mutual Smitteness, Potions Master!Draco, Research, Researcher Draco, Romance, SO MUCH FLUFF, Slice of Life, Some Sap, amateur cook and baker!Harry, cakes, eating meals together, episodic, friends first, moving in
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-02
Updated: 2017-10-31
Packaged: 2019-01-08 03:00:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 32
Words: 28,905
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12245781
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bafflinghaze/pseuds/bafflinghaze
Summary: Autumn, October. Another season, another month. Yet for all the repetitiveness of the seasons and the months, change is constant as old things end and new things begin. With Grimmauld Place falling down and with the distance between Harry and Draco becoming smaller both metaphorically and physically, this will inexorably be yet another month of change.





	1. Sunday 1st October

**Author's Note:**

> This will be based on the [drarry Halloween prompts for 2017](https://drarry-halloween-fest.tumblr.com/post/164485883359/here-it-is-the-official-list-of-drarry-halloween). Will contain a lot of potions, food, and liberal interpretations of the prompts.
> 
> Extra food notes can be found on [tumblr](http://bafflinghaze.tumblr.com/post/166036109603/an-autumn-time-an-abridged-food-diary-for) and in [Chapter 32.](http://archiveofourown.org/works/12245781/chapters/28638936)

Harry peeked into Draco’s lab. Brightly lit, there were multitudes of cauldrons on the flame, with their timers floating next to them. Occasionally, one of the ladles would move themselves to stir a potion. He couldn’t see Draco anywhere, but that didn’t deter Harry in the slightest. He walked straight in and closed the door behind him. A whispered _Point Me_ was all Harry needed to slowly creep up on Draco.

Draco’s hair was dishevelled, starting to come out of its ribbon tied by the back of his neck. As usual, he was muttering to himself, one hand flicking through a massive tome, another hand writing in a journal. Beside him, the cauldron lay silent. There was a little placard next to it: _Wolfsbane variant D 10_. Satisfied that Harry hadn’t arrived in the middle of something dangerous, he went up and plopped himself against the table.

“Hi, Draco!” Harry said brightly.

Draco jumped, giving a strangled _argg_. “Harry! What are you doing here? You should at _least_ be wearing some protective robes!”

Harry shrugged. “It’s fine. I’m not staying long.” He lifted up a box he was holding. “I brought you some food, so let’s go.”

Draco was aghast. “You brought _food_ into a dangerous, possibly _toxic_ potions lab?”

“There’s a bubble head charm around it,” Harry said, pouting. He looked at the cauldron. “Did it work?”

Draco sighed. “No. It’s completely wrong. And I just don’t understand _why_...”

Harry patted Draco on the arm. “Let’s get you some fresh air before you turn into a vampire.” Harry turned his pat into a grip and tugged Draco away from the table.

“That’s not how it works,” Draco groused, but he followed Harry out anyway. “At least the huge batch of insect repellent is coming along. Though I don’t understand why don’t want me to make insecticide. You _do_ realise that those insects will probably just go and plague someone else?”

“ _Or_ they might disperse and feed the local wildlife.” Harry ushered Draco out of the University building and into the rare British sunshine. 

The University was research only, and so was made of primarily of postgraduates and academics. Harry smiled gamely at them when they stared at him and Draco.

“Don’t encourage them,” Draco admonished, matching Harry’s smile with his own scowl. “Those ones are from the arts department.”

“I’m sure they do good work,” Harry said, continuing to smile. He got them to an empty table and bench. With a flick of his wand, the Bubble-Head charm dissipated and the box unravelled itself, setting out a table cloth, cutlery, and food.

Draco stared at the setting and then frowned at Harry. “Are you trying to...this is too much for me.”

Harry didn’t meet his eyes. “Look, I even made cauldron cakes. Get it? I made a couple of different flavours. See, that’s one pumpkin, and that’s apple. And that’s one’s yuzu—I saw it on the Bake Off, I thought you might like something fancy.”

“You should try out for it,” Draco said, finally sitting down.

Harry let out a breath and sat down opposite him. “No, Draco, _no_. I can’t go on a Muggle show! What if I accidentally do magic? Shacklebolt would _kill_ me if they have to obliviate a fifth of the British population. Anyway,” Harry added, more quietly, “you’re working so hard on a _Sunday_. The least I could do is bring you lunch. I’ll be over at the Weasleys after this for dinner.”

“So this was an excuse for you to cook and have someone eat it?” Draco said, smirking. He poured them a glass of the sparkling fruit juice.

Harry winked. “Don’t I always?”

Draco rolled his eyes, but he tucked in, much to Harry’s satisfaction.


	2. Monday 2nd October

“There are a _lot_ of insects here...” Ron said, looking around 12 Grimmauld Place dubiously, wand gripped tightly in one hand.

“Yeah, I suppose,” Harry said. He frowned when he realised that some were crawling out of the walls, which made him insanely glad that all the valuable items had been previously relocated when the pipes had started to leak. The pipes had been fixed, somewhat, but then the insects had come immediately after on a particularly hot and humid London day.

Draco was setting down dozens and dozens of potions vials around the house, all ready to open in timed bursts to expel Harry’s unwanted residents. But before Draco could release the insect repellent, Harry and Ron had to open all the windows and cast net charms so that the expelled insects wouldn’t immediately go and plague Harry’s muggle neighbours, which he had to admit would have been a really nasty thing to do.

Harry and Ron caught up with Draco in the attic, where the infestation was at its worse. Draco was fully decked out white protective robes, leaving no area of his skin uncovered, aside from the clear mesh across his face.

“Ugh, Harry, why aren’t _we_ wearing something like that?” Ron complained, as he stomped through the mess to spell the windows open.

“I didn’t think about it,” Harry admitted.

Suddenly, Ron screamed.

Harry immediately whirled around. “Ron, what’s wrong?”

“Sp-spider!” Ron blubbered, pointing at a big fat shiny spider.

Harry narrowed his eyes. In fact, it was almost _comically_ big and fat. Harry went closer and realised that—“It’s _plastic_ , Ron! Completely fake.” Harry _very_ slowly turned to Draco, who was coincidentally looking away, shoulders trembling.

“Oh, c’mon, _Draco_?” Harry said warningly.

At that, Draco looked back, a wide grin on his face. “Yes, Harry?”

Ron also turned to look at Draco. “It was _you!_ ”

Draco smirked. “The only way to get rid of your fear of spiders is by facing them. Aren’t you a Gryffindor? I’m just helping you out. After all, this house is also infested with spiders as well.”

“Oh, I’ll get you for this!” Ron shouted. In contrast to his tone, he moved very very carefully across the floor of invertebrae, whilst Draco had already made his quick escape down.

Harry grinned and shook his head. He followed Ron down and out.

The insect repellent was a success; Harry was absolutely _amazed_ with the number of things that crawled or flew out of Grimmauld Place when Draco released the potions. It was hard work collecting them all. The day was extremely windy, which half aided them in catching the insects, and half hindered them, blowing the insects right back inside.

At the end of it all, Draco promised to take them somewhere where the insects would be useful, saddling Harry and Ron with the task of cleaning Grimmauld Place up.

“Thanks for all your help, Draco,” Harry said.

“You owe me a favour,” he replied, smirking.

“Aw, c’mon, Malfoy,” Ron complained. “You’re supposed to say ‘you’re welcome’ or ‘no problem’.”

Draco shrugged. “That’s what _you’re_ saying, not I. Have a good afternoon!” He disapparated, taking the shrunken box of insects with him.

“I don’t know how you can _stand_ him all the time,” Ron said, hands on hips as he surveyed Harry’s ruined house with dismay. “We’re going to need a _lot_ of Weasley power to get this place back to shape. I saw a bunch of walls that’ll probably have to be re-made altogether.”

“Ron, Ron, Ron. _I_ don’t understand how you and Draco can keep playing pranks on each other like that, but each to our own relationship with Draco, eh?” Harry said. “But we should knock down some walls then. That sounds like fun.”

Ron scrunched up his nose. “Ugh, what _is_ it with you and Draco, anyway? Stop _dancing_ around each other like that, it’s sickening how nice you are together.”

Harry clapped a hand on Ron’s shoulder, ignoring the lump in his throat and the thumping of his heart. “Have a taste of your own medicine. Now, I think it’ll be nice if we had a bigger kitchen, don’t you think?”

“Stop changing the subject,” Ron said mutinously.

Harry blithely ignored him. “After this, what do you think about fish and chips and mushy peas for dinner? To make up for the work we have done and will do today.”

Ron immediately brightened up and followed Harry into the house without further complaint.


	3. Tuesday 3rd October

Draco sighed, flicking through his lab notes again. The latest Wolfsbane variant still hadn’t worked. Annoyed, he left it and went to attend some other menial tasks of making some stock-standard potions for other departments in the University.

He was making some beautification potions for the medical department when he had _an idea_. Rose petals were a component of the beautification potion. They were also often used in _love_ potions, which had the ability to create false feelings in a person. A _calming draught_ actually did calm a person down. Maybe it could calm a _lycanthrope_ down too.

For example, if possible, rather than having to make a new version of Wolfsbane, perhaps the affected person could take a draught of peace before the transformation, and then somehow take a calming draught right after the transformation. If calm, perhaps the human mind would more easily keep control of the wolf.

Or even, if the Draught of Peace would put them to _sleep_ , then it wouldn’t be a problem at all.

Draco let the idea simmer at the back of his mind as he completed the remaining potions for the medical department. He let the idea simmer as he took the walk to the medical department to deliver the potions.

When he returned to his work, he wasn’t quite so optimistic anymore. There was a possibility that either the Draught of Peace, or the Wolfsbane, would cause the other to have no affect. And even if it _did_ work, it would only be a temporarily solution. His research proposal had been to eradicate the blood disease altogether, to get rid of the _source_ in the blood.

But he had been trying, with no success, to make a potion that was like the alcohol expulsion potion that was used in many cases of alcohol poisoning and binge drinking to remove all traces of the toxic substance from a person’s body.

But—Draco suddenly realised—alcohol was inert. The Lycan pathogen had to be able to multiply and spread, or else each new lycanthrope would be more diluted than their predecessor. It might even mutate, and have slightly different variants, unlike the standard form of ethanol. Draco needed something more like an _anti-Dragon Pox_ potion...

Eyes alight, Draco sat down and wrote down the two plans, one with the Draught of Peace idea, one with the anti-Dragon pox idea. It was already the 3rd of October—the full moon would be on the 5th. Draco believed strongly that he could get the Draught of Peace and Wolfsbane combination down by then. He’d have to make the Draught of Peace stronger, rather than spreading it out along the week-long daily regimen of Wolfsbane that the volunteers had to take.

But he could _do_ it. People were _counting_ on him.

:::

The artificial light of the labs was both a curse and a blessing. By the time Draco was aware of the ache in his back, from leaning over books and cauldrons all day, it was late, late night. He was surprised when he realised that Harry hadn’t come in to interrupt him. He was even more surprised to find a box with a bubble-head charm set at one of the tables just by the door. Draco stared it all, his stomach twisting.

It felt a lot as though Harry was... _courting_ him, lately. And the feeling intensified when Draco took the box to his office to eat. The spread was full of food that, in popular culture, was supposed to give him strength and energy and clarity of mind: a cup of green tea, a dish of salmon, avocado and greens, and a dark chocolate pudding, topped with chopped nuts and blueberries. It was just so _damn thoughtful_ of Harry, and Draco felt he could never do something near as nice in return.

But, after he ate, Draco returned to his labs. That would be a problem he would deal with another day. Right now, he _needed_ to get the Wolfsbane working.


	4. Wednesday 4th October

“Err, Harry?” Ron called.

Harry stopped breaking down one of the kitchen walls and followed Ron’s voice. “Yeah? What’s up?”

“I think...you’ve _got_ to see this.”

Harry found Ron with his head poking up into the attic. Ron went down, and Harry went up. And groaned.

 _Bats_.

The windows to the attic had been left open, and now there was an infestation of _bats_ instead of insects.

Harry slowly climbed the steps and faced Ron. “Ron,” he said, “I think it’s time to give up.”

Ron looked at him. “Harry?”

“Everything, it’s all, just. I just can’t be bothered anymore. I know it was Sirius’ place but...even _he_ didn’t like it. And we both know that this place has been slowly getting worse and worse. We’ll have to call in some _proper_ renovators. Or just knock the whole place down and, I don’t know, build a _park_ here instead or something.”

“A park would be nicer than what this is right now,” Ron admitted grudgingly. “What are you going to do now, then?”

Harry winced. “I’ll probably need to look for a new place. I know you and Hermione don’t mind me crashing at your place, but _still_. I keep saying how I want a really big kitchen. Maybe it’s time for me to actually put my money where my mouth is and go and _buy_ a place with a big kitchen.”

“You sounded oddly like Malfoy there,” Ron said. “Where is he, anyway?”

“Working,” Harry said. “You know those academic types.” He and Ron shared a laugh. Harry set up the wards and they went back to Ron’s and Hermione’s place.

Harry then shooed Ron back to his day job at Weasleys’ Wizard Wheezes, before collapsing onto the sofa that had served as his bed for the past week and more.

It had been _hard_ to admit that just perhaps maybe that 12 Grimmauld Place was a lost cause. It had been Sirius’ home. It held _memories_ for Harry; there were even some positive ones. But as the years passed, the place had become more and more decrepit despite Harry’s best attempts to fix it up, until, truthfully, he was spending most of his time elsewhere. Harry meant it when he said he wanted a bigger kitchen. He could go out to the suburbs, maybe even to the country side where there was space, and buy or build a big place that wouldn’t fall apart around him.

It was some while later that Harry found some effort to get back up again. He wandered into the kitchen, and on auto-pilot, and poked through the kitchen cabinets. Last night’s episode on the Great British Bake Off had been Pastry Week. And he knew that tomorrow would be the Full Moon, so Draco would be working hard, too hard, to get _something_ in the last minute.

Feeling some purpose, Harry went to buy some ingredients and started cooking—it helped keep his mind off Grimmauld Place and Sirius. Harry made something to say _thank you_ to Ron and Hermione for letting him stay over, and something for Draco to keep up his energy, and then something for Teddy, and then something for Andromeda too or else it wouldn’t be fair, and then something for Victoire and Dominique, or else Harry would never hear the end of why Teddy got something but they didn’t, which meant something for their _parents_ as well.

Harry had it all finished when Ron got back at the end of his work day.

“Blimey! That’s a lot of food.”

Harry grinned. “I know it was your turn to cook tonight, but...”

Ron rolled his eyes. “It’s my turn to cook _every_ night,” he muttered. “Never let Hermione near a stove, I tell you.”

“Come on, help me deliver some of these, and then we can have dinner when Hermione returns.”

Ron pouted. “So it wasn’t all for us?”

“Nope,” Harry replied brightly.

Together, they packed up the pastries into different boxes, aside from the large hand-raised pie Harry had made for their dinner.

Harry and Ron popped over to Draco’s lab first; Harry let Ron look around in the corridor whilst he peeked inside. He couldn’t see Draco, so he cast the Bubble-Head charm on Draco’s box and left it on a nearby table.

“I’m surprised how modern this place looks,” Ron commented. “Hogwarts looks bloody old compared to this.”

Harry rolled his eyes. “Hogwarts _is_ old compared to here.”

Harry side-alonged them to Teddy and Andromeda next, right outside their front door. Andromeda opened the door, but Teddy rushed out first.

“Harry! Ronny!” Teddy said, throwing his arms in the air. “Hello!”

Harry bent down to give Teddy a one-arm hug. “Hey there Teddy Bear, I got something for you.”

Teddy’s eyes widened. “For _me_?” he whispered, clasping his hands together.

“Of course!” Harry gravely handed Teddy his box of sweet pastries. “But only after you have your dinner, alright?”

“Yes, Harry!” Teddy hugged the box to his chest. “Granny! Look what Harry brought me!”

Andromeda’s eyebrows raised. “I see.”

Ron stepped forward. “Harry made something for you, too,” he said, handing her box over.

Andromeda blinked. “You didn’t have too,” she said, nonetheless accepting it.

Harry grinned. “Just a little something. I’ll see you on Sunday, yeah?”

Teddy squealed. “Yes!”

Andromeda patted Teddy’s hair and gave Harry and Ron a world-weary look. “You can’t believe how often he’s been talking about scarecrows lately. But, thank you for the food.”

Harry flushed, smiling. “It’s my pleasure. Bye!”

Teddy waved energetically, and Andromeda gave a refined nod.

Harry grinned, and this time, Ron apparated them to Shell Cottage. Victoire, Dominque, and Bill were there, in the garden, and they both looked up at the sound of apparition.

“Hello!” Ron called out. “I have a delivery for the Delacour-Weasleys!”

Victoire grinned. “Uncle Ron!” She stepped on the garden, to Bill’s dismay, to reach Ron. Bill’s expression became even more dismayed when Dominique clomped after her sister, right on top of the plants that Victoire hadn’t squashed.

Ron gave Victoire and Dominique a small box each. “Your Uncle Harry made these just for you.”

Victoire turned to Harry. “Thank you very much, Uncle Harry!” She nudged her little sister to repeat the same.

“Thank-ee,” Dominique said, smiling widely.

“It’s my pleasure.” He handed the last box to a weary-but-brightening-up Bill Weasley. “These are for you and Fleur.”

Bill gave Harry a tired smile. “Thanks, Harry. I can’t wait to taste them. You should open up a restaurant or shop.”

Harry smiled but shook his head. “I have no head for the pressure, or for the business,” he said.

“I believe you would be fine with the pressure,” Bill said seriously. Then, he smiled. “But the business, you could learn. My brothers could, after all.”

Harry snorted. “Ha, I guess so. I’ll see you on Sunday then?”

“You’ll see Victoire and Dominique.” Bill’s voice dropped to a whisper. “Fleur and I have a date.”

Harry’s eyebrows went up. “Alright then. Well, I’ll see you around.”

They gave their farewells, Ron whispering something final to Victoire. Dominique had returned to Bill’s side, opening up and showing him her box.

He and Ron got back just in time to see Hermione step out of the Floo.

“Something smells nice,” she said, sniffing the air appreciatively. “Oh, and you _cannot_ believe the fuss at the Creatures Department today! Someone, _somehow_ , lost an entire group of bats that they had transported for some Halloween event!”

Ron and Harry exchanged looks and then both snorted. “We think we know where they’ve gone,” they chorused.

Hermione fixed them with a stern look. “Where?”

“At Grimmauld Place,” they replied.

At that Hermione made a sound of absolute exasperation.


	5. Thursday 5th October

“ _Ministry inspection!_ Coming through!”

Draco swore. He slammed and locked his books and cast a _stasis_ charm over the cauldrons he was working on. “Put on some protective robes!” he yelled back, even as he made his way to the front of the labs.

Two Ministry officials were marching their way in regardless. Draco moved to intercept them.

“As part of University and Ministry Safety Regulations, all beings and creatures entering the lab must put on a set of protective robes,” Draco informed them, giving them an unimpressed look.

The two Ministry officials were of comparable height to Draco, both with pale skin and dark brown hair and blue eyes and firm jaws. He supposed that they were meant to be intimidating to academics like him, but their blustering and posturing of “ _Of course we knew that!_ ” didn’t portray any intimidation at all.

“We’re _Aurors_ from the Potions Regulation sub-department of the Auror Division,” one said, puffing up his chest. “We had a tip off that _you’ve_ been dealing with illegal potions.”

“I barely see how making a tiny modification on a general allergy potion is _illegal_ , just because it hasn’t been _registered_ yet. This is a research lab, Aurors.” Draco motioned to his lab, trying very hard to not snap.

The other Auror scoffed. “As though you would admit to it,” he said. “We shall _inspect_ , if you please.”

‘Inspecting’ apparently meant trying to poke at the protective bubbles Draco had around his cauldrons; lifting up the little placards and dropping them back down; moving jars and bottles around.

“Oh _ho_ , what’s this?” an Auror said. “A _Draught of Living Death_?”

Draco was unamused. “Entirely legal. We brewed it sixth year Hogwarts, if you may recall.”

The Auror grunted but moved on.

“Mr Malfoy—”

“ _Dr_ Malfoy, or _Potions Master_ Malfoy,” Draco cut in.

The Auror rolled his eyes. “Dr Malfoy, you have a surprising number of _Wolfsbane_ here. How are you able to acquire such expensive ingredients? And are all the _werewolves_ registered?”

“With all _due_ respect, Wolfsbane is not illegal either.”

The Auror went right up to Draco’s personal space. “However, Wolfsbane _is_ highly regulated, and any _modifications_ are poisonous, are they not? The Ministry does _not_ want _that_ happening.”

Draco rankled. “Perhaps you’ve heard of something called _funding_? And _research_?”

“Draco!”

All heads turned towards the door.

“You have to put on some protective robes _too_ , Harry!” Draco called out, glancing sidelong at the two Aurors who had both stiffened.

There was a brief silence, then a “Fine!”

The two Aurors whispered hastily to themselves, and immediately shut up when Harry appeared, mercifully wearing some protective robes.

“Hi, Draco,” he said. He turned to the Aurors. “Aurors, is there a problem here?”

“No,” one of them grudgingly admitted.

“Aside from the _werewolf_ research,” the other muttered.

Harry’s lips downturned. “I heard that. There is _nothing_ wrong about helping others, is there? Also, can I see your inspection mandate?”

“Not for civilian eyes, _Mr_ Potter. We’ll be leaving now, thank you.”

The two Aurors marched out again. Draco smirked behind their backs, firmly closing the door behind them.

“Hi, Draco,” Harry repeated. “Sorry I interrupted, but I heard from Hermione that someone in the Ministry didn’t want to fund your research and I just wanted to check up on you.”

Draco quirked a corner of his mouth. “Your saviour tendencies arise again.”

“More like I care about you,” Harry mumbled, looking away.

Draco blinked at the admission, feeling warmth spread across his cheeks. “ _Pardon_?”

“I got something for you and the other researchers and the volunteers to share,” Harry continued, enlarging out a beautiful red box with a lotus decoration across it. “Technically, it was the Mid-Autumn Festival yesterday, though the full moon is tonight.” He lifted open the lid on the box.

Draco leaned closer, eyebrows going up. Inside the box nestled four large moon cakes, two in their traditional golden colour, and one white and one dark purple. “Harry...”

Harry closed the box and handed it to Draco, not meeting Draco’s eyes. “I wanted to, alright? They’re best cut up and shared. With some tea. I just thought it’ll be something nice and sweet to have before the volunteers’ last potion before the night.”

“Why don’t you—join us? The moon will rise at 6.47pm tonight, so the other researchers will be providing dinner starting at 5.30.”

Harry worried his bottom lip. “I...”

Draco’s grip on the box tightened. “Unless you’re uncomfortable, or if you have something else planned. I have to stay the entire night, to monitor the effects of the potions.”

“How about tomorrow?” Harry suddenly said.

“Friday?” Draco’s eyebrows knitted together.

“Dinner?” Harry’s cheeks were red, and he was wringing his hands.

A smile slowly came across Draco’s face. “A date,” he said boldly, winking, even as his heart thumped in his chest at what was _happening right now_. It felt really sudden, but Draco had been thinking about it for a long time. Draco couldn’t believe that Harry went even _more_ red.

“Yeah,” Harry whispered, but he was also smiling, making Draco’s heart sing with joy.

“Your place or mine? Do you want me to make a reservation somewhere?”

Harry made an embarrassed noise. “Grimmauld Place has bats now. It’s an absolute mess. I could come and cook at your place, if you’d like.”

“Yes!” Draco flushed at his outburst. He cleared his throat self-consciously. “Yes,” he repeated, more calmly. “I would love that. The wards will let you in. Do you want me to pick up any groceries beforehand?”

Harry shook his head. “I can get them. You’re going to be busy tonight and tomorrow. And I’m just a layabout, after all,” he chuckled self-deprecatingly.

“A _delicious_ layabout,” Draco corrected. “And thank you for coming, and for the all the food lately. I really appreciate it. If you don’t mind—” Draco shifted the box of mooncakes to one hip and reached out to Harry with his free arm.

“Y-yes?” Harry squeaked when Draco tugged him closer and gave him a one-arm hug. “Draco?”

Draco leaned in and pressed a kiss on Harry’s cheek, and then reluctantly released Harry. “You’re just too cute,” Draco mumbled, looking away.

Harry also looked away, rubbing the back of his neck. “I’ll leave you to your work then. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow,” Draco promised, walking Harry to the door. They shared a lingering look, before Harry closed the lab door behind him.

Draco let out a deep breath, grin growing on his face.


	6. Friday 6th October

As Draco had promised, Harry had no trouble entering Draco’s house. Unlike _Harry’s_ place, Draco’s was new and modern, a Muggle house that he had bought when he was moving out of Malfoy Manor. There was a large open-plan kitchen and dining on the ground floor, and with a sense of excitement, Harry re-familiarised himself with Draco’s kitchen before getting down to work.

It was past six when Draco returned, looking tired. Harry paused, before deciding to reduce the heat on the bubbling pot before rounding the kitchen island to Draco.

“Hey,” he said, alternately looking towards his feet and Draco’s feet. “How are you?”

Draco sighed and smiled. “Fine. It smells delicious. I’ll go up and change first, if you don’t mind.”

Harry looked up. “Sure.” Feeling adventurous, he quickly leaned in and gave _Draco_ a kiss on the cheek. He had been thinking about returning it for over 24 hours.

Draco scoffed, but his smile reached his eyes now. “Harry—”

Harry shooed Draco towards the stairs. “Go change already! The food’s almost ready.”

“Bossy,” Draco smirked, but he did as he was told.

Harry let out a huge noisy breath the moment Draco disappeared up the stairs and rushed back to the stove and turned off the heat on everything. He poked around Draco’s kitchen some more, and uncovered the dining table settings. He laid out two places, and after a moment of hesitation, conjured up some candles and dashed outside to Draco’s garden to bring in some flowers as well. It wasn’t uncommon for Harry and Draco to have dinner together. But this time was meant to be _different_ , because this time, they had actually both agreed out loud that it was a _date_.

“How _romantic_ ,” Draco murmured, appearing right over Harry’s shoulder.

Harry squeaked, nearly dropping the serving spoon.

Draco moved to the other side of the table, grinning. “That’s for suddenly appearing when _I’m_ doing work.”

“Ugh,” Harry groaned. “Sit down, you.” He dished out a serving of rice and wild mushroom stroganoff for both of them and a glass of water each.

He let Draco tuck first, before asking, “So, how did yesterday go?”

“The mooncakes were lovely,” Draco said. “Is it possible to make them outside of the Autumn Moon Festival?”

Harry grinned. “You can, but the whole point is that it’s a special treat for the festival. But were you able to make any breakthroughs?”

“The volunteers were in good spirits from your mooncakes, which helped. From the hands of the great Harry Potter himself, after all.” Draco laughed when Harry kicked him under the table. “And a tentative _yes_ , I suppose. The modified draught of peace helped ease the transformation.”

Harry hummed. “Good.”

“And how has _your_ week been?”

Harry went on to tell Draco about how after the insects, the bats had come, and how after the bats had gone (courtesy of the Ministry and Hermione), 12 Grimmauld Place had been an absolute mess and so Harry was still staying at Ron and Hermione’s.

“You could stay here,” Draco pointed out.

Harry blushed, his mind immediately going _there_. “What?”

“I have a spare bed. And my bed also has a spare space right next to me,” Draco said nonchalantly. “And Merlin knows I don’t use this kitchen enough.”

They both looked towards the kitchen, with its surfaces laden with dirty dishes and utensils and pots and unused ingredients.

“Oh,” Harry said. Harry _did_ quite like Draco’s kitchen. It was even better than the one at Ron and Hermione’s. He felt positively giddy with the thought of being able to just _use_ it, instead of Grimmauld Place’s old dingy one, and instead of trying to look for a new place, which was harder than Harry had initially thought—the wizarding agents still completely fawned over him and showed him the old fancy homes they’d thought he’d like, and the muggle ones thought he was a poor layabout and so showed him all the cramp rooms in just as old shared flats.

“Think about it,” Draco said. “And, you can use my kitchen any time you want, regardless—make it feel loved, Harry.”

Harry laughed, and then sat there, smiling at Draco. Draco smiled back. Eventually, they both ducked their heads and returned to their food.

After the main meal, Harry pushed the dishes to the side and took out dessert, which on the outset, looked like two frosted glass bubbles. He placed the dishes on the table, and after making sure Draco was watching, Harry swirled his wand across them.

With the lightest sparkle of magic, the bubbles shimmered open, and the dessert flowered, pink petals of cheesecake opening up, revealing cream and berries inside, which all sat on shaped matcha icecream leaves and a dark chocolate and hazelnut crumb.

Harry diligently handed Draco a small spoon. “What do you think?” Harry was alarmed when Draco suddenly got up and went around the table. Harry was even more alarmed when Draco grabbed his shirt.

Harry’s heart rate went through the roof when Draco kissed him, right on the lips. His heart continued to thump loudly even when Draco stopped, moving away a tad bit so that they could breath.

“I love it,” Draco whispered.

“We should eat, before the icecream melts,” Harry said, feeling very nonsensical.

Draco’s eyes crinkled. “Hmm, bossy.”

Harry wrinkled his nose. “ _Draco!_ And that was _so_ cheesy.”

Draco smirked and sat back down. “I thought you’d like it,” he said, pressing into his dessert.

But Harry could tell that Draco clearly had a romantic buried deep inside him, which Harry was determined to now bring out.

After dinner, they cleaned the kitchen up together, and they chatted some more. Harry eventually returned to Ron and Hermione’s for the night, leaving with a grin on his face, a warm feeling in his chest, and a buzzing on his lips.


	7. Saturday 7th October

Harry flipped the bacon over absent-mindedly and sighed. Ron and Hermione were still in bed, so Harry had decided to make a Full English.

Last night had been absolutely dreamy. _Draco_ had been absolutely dreamy. Harry was pleasantly amazed how easily they slipped in romance amongst their friendship. And the food had turned out good, and Draco had liked it. And Draco had offered him his _kitchen!_ (And his bed! Harry went all red just thinking about it.)

“Harry!” Hermione shouted.

Harry jerked out of his reverie. “ _What?_ ”

“You’ve burnt it,” Hermione said, “whatever that was.”

Harry blinked, and then turned to his pan in shock. The bacon had burnt to a crisp, and only now he realised the smoke coming off of it. He immediately took the pan off the heat and vanished the smoke.

“Sorry,” he muttered, embarrassed. “I was thinking.”

Hermione gave a surprisingly evil sounding chuckle. “Oh, I know. Are you still up for the hike today? We don’t want any _accidents_ happening.”

“Of course I am!” Harry replied, mocked outraged. “You planned this, after all, and everything has been paid for. _And_ I get to spend time with you,” Harry added as an afterthought.

Hermione snorted. “Money your main concern?”

Harry grinned. “You never skive off work, so it’s a rare treat to have you and Ron to myself for hours on end.”

“Awww,” Hermione said. “Do you want me to cook breakfast?”

Harry’s head jerked back automatically. “That’s quite okay, Hermione. I can do it. Maybe if you just go and take the jug of orange juice out, that would be all...”

“Ha-ha,” Hermione said, rolling her eyes. But her sheepish smile softened her words. “I’ll go wake up Ron first, then.”

And so, quite thankfully, Hermione let Harry do the cooking. Ron emerged in time to heat up the baked beans, and Hermione dutifully took out the orange juice and boiled some water for tea.

It was a good and sturdy meal, for the hike Hermione had planned ahead for them.


	8. Sunday 8th October

“Are you ready for the _[scarecrow trail](https://www.wherecanwego.com/item/e1153875/hamstreet-scarecrow-trail)?!_ ” Ron shouted to the assembled children: Teddy, Victoire, Dominique, little Fred, and Roxanne.

“Yes!” they shouted in hap-shod unison.

Harry gave them all an indulgent smile. Together, he and Ron side-alonged the children to Hamstreet, a little village in Kent, in South East England. The village was bustling with Muggles, and Ron gaily led the children to the Victory Hall to collect maps and enter the Match the Names competition, obtaining a list of names for each child.

There were dozens and dozens of different scarecrows, made to look like popular Muggle figures, scattered across the village, each with a number next to them. Admittedly, Harry and Ron’s knowledge of famous Muggle figures was lacking; the children’s even worse. Ultimately, it became a guessing game, writing random numbers next to the list of names.

They had a BBQ lunch at the Green, and Ron let them all get their face painted, and Harry let them all have some cake. Afterwards, they went around looking for some more scarecrows. Detours occurred often, and it was approaching the late afternoon that they looked at all the scarecrows to the children’s satisfaction (sometimes twice or more). Ron and Harry led everyone back away from the village so that they could apparate to The Burrow, where Sunday dinner would be held.

The moment they arrived, Harry let the children go, and flopped down on a sofa.

“Weak,” Ron teased, before he ushered the children to the bathroom to clean up.

Harry rolled his eyes and stretched himself out.

Presently, Molly came over, greeting Harry.

“How’s Grimmauld Place?” Molly then asked. “Did Draco’s insect repellent work?”

Harry gave Molly a sheepish smile. “It worked, but then bats setted in. Someone had lost them, apparently.”

“Oh no,” Molly said sympathetically. “Is it alright now?”

“Hermione got them returned but...I’ve sort of given up.” Harry looked down at his wringing hands. “It’s just, it’s so bad that I may as well find or build a new place instead of trying to fix it up.”

“I see. Well, if you need any help, I’m always willing to lend a hand.” Molly patted Harry’s hands. “There’s a property going up for sale nearby, if you wanted.”

Harry cleared his throat. “Yes, about that. Draco offered his place. We’re dating now,” Harry added, when he noticed Molly’s puzzled look.

Molly gasped. “You’re _dating Draco_? Since when? Oh, why haven’t you invited Draco over too...! That boy needs feeding, I tell you.”

Harry chuckled. “I certainly feed him. He’s an academic—works Sundays too. And, er, since this Friday?”

“Harry! And he’s asked you to move in _already_?”

Harry felt his cheeks redden. “He has a spare bedroom. But I haven’t said yes yet. Is it all too fast?”

Molly gave it serious thought. “Do _you_ think it’s too soon? Draco isn’t someone new.”

“What are you talking about?” Teddy interrupted, running away from Ron and jumping onto Harry’s lap.

“About Draco,” Harry said. “We’re boyfriends now.”

Teddy gave Harry a confused look. “Draco? But you are always boy friends with Draco. Silly Harry.”

Ron gave an outright laugh.

“Draco asked me to move in,” Harry told Ron. “I don’t know if...”

“It’s your decision, and we’ll support you either way,” Molly said firmly.

Ron grinned. “Pardon, Mum, but if Harry and Draco were anyone else, Harry would have moved in with Draco _years_ ago. It’s about time!” 

Harry blinked, bit his lip, and tried not to smile. “You think so?”

“Mate, I _know_ so,” Ron said dramatically.

“I like Draco’s house better than your house,” Teddy whispered. He patted Harry’s arm. “Sorry.”

Harry laughed. “I have to agree.”

Molly patted Harry’s hand one more time. “It seems like you’ve decided.” She stood up. “Ron, where are the other children?”

Ron’s eyes widened comically and he dashed out again.

Molly shook her head at Ron, a smile on her lips. “I’ll be in the kitchen if you need anything,” she said.

“Okay.” Harry turned to Teddy. “What do you want to do now?”

Teddy gave a cheeky grin and jumped off of Harry’s lap. “Chasey, chasey!” he shouted, dashing to the front door.

Harry let out a groan.


	9. Monday 9th October

It didn’t take long for Harry to collect his things at Ron and Hermione’s place and transfer them over to the spare bedroom at Draco’s. Harry had done it in the morning, before Draco went off to work. They hadn’t _quite_ got round to breaching the topic of sharing the same bed, just yet.

“You can decorate the room, and the house, how ever you wish,” Draco had said. “I’ll be home for dinner. Should I expect you suddenly appearing for lunch?”

“I was going to see Hagrid today, actually,” Harry had replied. “But I’ll be home for dinner, too.” Before his bravery abandoned him, Harry had gave Draco a quick kiss on the cheek before letting Draco floo away to his work.

After Draco left, Harry had gone to his vaults and withdrawn out some photos to hang on the wall of his new bedroom, and his stock of cook books friends and family had given him over the years. At lunch, he apparated over to Hogwarts (to avoiding flooing into McGonagall’s office) and had lunch with Hagrid.

He returned home with four large pumpkins, which was as little as he could manage to take, given Hagrid’s overflowing generosity. Harry was able to foster off two of them to Molly, but that left him with two much-too-large pumpkins.

:::

Draco returned to a riot of bright _orange_ in the kitchen. One pumpkin, nearly as large as the circle of his arms, sat on the counter. The empty hull of another one splayed out next to it, with splatters of pumpkin all over the counter. It looked as though all of Draco’s containers and large bowls had been commandeered into use, each overflowing with bright orange pumpkin.

“Draco!” Harry said, sounding surprised. “You’re back.”

“It’s past six,” Draco replied, walking up to the kitchen island but standing away from the orange that littered across it.

“I _have_ started on dinner,” Harry said.

“Pumpkin, I suppose.”

“I had to accept _some_ of them from Hagrid. Can you—”

“All you need to do is enlarge some of these containers,” Draco said. Deftly, he so, packing away and slapping a stasis charm on the excess pumpkin. Harry continued to cook, while Draco cleaned up around him. With the pumpkin cleared away, the smell of fresh bread started to fill the kitchen.

“Take out the bread from the oven, can you? It needs to cool,” Harry said.

“I can,” Draco said. He took out the loaf and set it on the cooling rack. “Plates and soup bowls, I assume?”

Harry made an affirmative sound from where he hunched over a big pot of soup.

It was comforting to Draco, how easily dinner came together. Once the bread cooled somewhat, Draco sliced out thick slices for them, while Harry ladled out the soup and sprinkled some sage on top.

“This is good,” Draco said, staring at the bright yellow-orange pumpkin soup.

“You sound surprised,” Harry scoffed. “I’ll pack some for your lunch tomorrow.”

“Pumpkin is _overrated_. But somehow, you’ve made it _different_.” It hadn’t been just plain sweet-savoury, but spiced, with different textures and ingredients, a bit of crunch from pumpkin seeds and the bread had been phenomenal.

“Yeah?” Harry used his wand to summon the little square dessert and two small spoons. “I made pumpkin cheesecake too.” He handed one spoon to Draco. “To share.”

Draco groaned. “ _More_ pumpkin?”

“But it’s _cheesecake_ ,” Harry insisted. “That makes it all better.” He pressed his spoon into the cake first, but rather than eating it himself, _he held it out to Draco_.

Draco looked at the spoon near his face, then at Harry, then at the spoon.

“Have a taste,” Harry said, leaning closer.

Draco’s cheeks flushed, the traitors they were, but he also leaned forward and took the morsel into his mouth. The cheesecake near melted in his mouth, not too sweet, and with lovely warm spices. “You’re going to be the death of me,” Draco grumbled. “I’m going to drown in your utter sappiness. This is doing horrible damage to my reputation.”

Harry laughed. “You liked it. I’m glad.”

Draco smirked back. “Now it’s _your_ turn,” he said ominously, using his spoon to feed Harry in return. Unfortunately, Harry seemed to actually _like_ Draco feeding him like that, licking his lips, and giving Draco an expression for _more_. “You’re incorrigible, Harry Potter,” Draco admonished, but he gave Harry another spoonful anyway.


	10. Tuesday 10th October

When Harry returned home that evening, he was surprised to see boxes and shopping bags clustered by the door of his new room.

“Draco, what’s all this?” he shouted down to where Draco was cooking dinner (or rather, unpacking the dinner he had bought).

“They’re for you,” was Draco’s reply, not shouted, but _sonorus_ ’ed.

“Huh.” Feeling giddy—it felt like _presents_ , after all—Harry started riffling through the packages.

 _Clothes_.

Draco had, for some unknown reason, bought Harry new clothes—there were sweaters, jackets, a scarf and beanie (a _beanie!_ Harry couldn’t believe _Draco_ had bought that, given how common and normal it was). There were even _pyjamas_ , which confused and flustered Harry equally.

Aside from clothes, there was also a muggle Halloween-themed cookbook, and—

—And a muggle _molecular gastronomy kit_. Whilst Harry believed that he could mimic many of the molecular gastronomy results with magic, there was something so _rustic_ about how muggles did it, using fancy science.

Biting his lip so that he wouldn’t whoop in joy, Harry opened the box, taking out instruction manuals, a cookbook, little sachets of different powders, little glass jars with different coloured liquids, larger jars with different flavoured pearls inside, pipettes, syringes, test tubes and beakers, tweezers, various spoons and silicone molds. He stared back and forth between them with wide eyes.

“Are you coming down for dinner? We can watch the Bake Off afterwards.”

Harry turned to Draco, who was leaning against the doorframe. “Draco... _thank you_.”

Draco cleared his throat, but Harry could see the red creeping up his neck. “Oh, it’s nothing. You need new clothes, it’s getting colder after all.”

“ _And_ all this,” Harry said, raising his arms over the spread.

“I don’t really know what it’s about, admittedly,” Draco said, looking away. “I just thought you might like it.”

Harry pushed everything off his lap gently and stood up. “I love it,” he said. “And I’ll be sure to try out what I make on you,” he added, grinning. “What’s for dinner?”

Draco rolled his eyes. “I acquired some matcha soba and some side dishes.”

Harry nodded in approval. “I’ve never really made soba.”

Draco huffed. “Good.”

“Did you know that it’s going to be Italian week on Bake Off tonight? Completely on the other side of the world.”

“I didn’t know. I haven’t watched any episodes this year.” Draco grinned, as though it was something to be proud about.

Harry gasped. “ _No!_ You haven’t seen Noel Fielding? You’re _definitely_ watching tonight.” Harry slung an arm across Draco’s shoulder and pressed a kiss into his cheek. “You can’t escape me!”

“Oh _woe_ is me,” Draco said with a smile.


	11. Wednesday 11th October

“These are new,” Harry said idly, looking at the autumn and Halloween displays at Weasleys’ Wizard Wheezes.

Ron gave Harry a very unimpressed look.

“What?” Harry protested.

“These have been here since September,” Ron said drily. “So either you’ve gotten more oblivious in your old age, or you hadn’t visited me in place of work for _ages_.”

“Hey, I’m here now.” Harry looked around the shop. It was a Wednesday morning on Diagon Alley, and there was hardly anyone around just yet. He went closer to inspect the ‘new’ goods. Amongst the Darkness Powder and Halloween-themed fireworks, and a whole _host_ of costumes, were some actually decent looking candles that looked completely out of place.

“Heh,” Ron said, coming up to Harry. “These are great. You know Bertie Botts Beans? These are scented candles, and they come in _many_ different scents. Want one?”

Harry’s eyebrows went up. “Nice, but no thanks. Draco would kill me. And the scent would mess with the food anyway.”

Ron shook his head in mocked despair. “My best friend, whipped already. How’s it at Draco’s place, anyway? You should invite me over. And Hermione too, I guess. I want to see how trashed it’s become since you moved in— _ow!_ ”

Harry had slapped Ron’s arm. “Bill thinks I should open up a restaurant or something. Draco thinks I should go on Bake Off.”

“Ah-hah!” Ron exclaimed. “I was chatting with Lee Jordan the other day. He thinks you should take pictures of your food. The magazines would love it, apparently. And I know Hermione thinks you could hold a charity bake sale, if you wanted to.”

“You think I should get a job now?” Harry pursed his lips. It had been a good few years since he had tried and dropped out of Auror training (as did Ron), and a good few years since all the disastrous job interviews he had had after that. “I guess I’m afraid that if I cook for _work_ , it wouldn’t be so fun anymore. That I’d stop liking it.”

“Then you could do something else,” Ron shrugged. “But seriously, it’s your life. You don’t ever need a job, or anything like that. Do _you_ want to open a restaurant?”

Harry winced. “I _may_ have watched too many in-the-kitchen type muggle shows. It looks like a horrible, stressful job.”

“You _could_ do a temporary thing, like a pop-up store, or take owl-orders,” Ron suggested. “And a charity bake could be one-off. And Lee’ll be happy to come by and take pictures.”

Harry gave a groan of frustration. “I don’t know what to do. Maybe I should go and pester Draco instead...”

This time, Ron slapped _Harry_ on the arm. “Right now, you’re helping me out, _right_? I was thinking some edible chocolate insects and bugs for Halloween, and for freaking parents out.”

“And spiders?” Harry added, smirking.

Ron scowled. “And spiders. So I need _you_ to help with perfecting the chocolate. Can’t have them melting all over the place. And the colours need to be right, too.” He started to push Harry to the back of the shop, where the Experimental Lab hid.

“Did you know there’s a new ruby chocolate out?” Harry said, over his shoulder. “Apparently fruity. And many insects and spiders have a blueish blood. I bet we could insert some blue syrup inside them to mimic that.”

Ron grinned. “And you, Mr Harry Potter, Food Inventor Extraordinaire, are going to do just that.”


	12. Thursday 12th October

“I can almost see why you like cooking for others,” Draco said, placing down the two plates of pork and apples for himself and Harry. “And I made apple-crumble-cheesecake too.”

After a couple of days of having pumpkin themed things, Draco had put his foot down and told Harry that morning that _he’d_ be cooking dinner tonight. Draco didn’t have a large repertoire of cooking as Harry did, but he _did_ have a solid number of dishes involving apples under his belt.

“You had time to chill it?” Harry said, tucking in.

Draco smirked. “I used a bit of magic to move the molecules in the cheesecake into their set arrangement.”

Harry frowned. “Is that cheating? That sounds like cheating. Also, you sounded like an academic right there.”

Draco leaned back. “Quite so, good sir.”

Harry looked down at his food suspiciously. “And how did you cook this then?”

“Levitated it all over a direct high heat,” Draco shrugged. “Nothing to stick to a pan or baking dish. And the charring on the pork is great when I do that...”

“I take what I said back. You’re such a _wizard_. You could _never_ go on the Bake Off.”

“No,” Draco said, sniffing. “I would just spell cakes to rise, after all.”

“Hm, I guess that’s why this tastes like you—”

Draco choked.

“I meant that I can taste your magic in it!” Harry said quickly, looking quite flustered. “And I like it! I’m not sure if tasting your magic is suitable for everyone though.”

Draco cleared his throat, feeling heat rise up his neck. “I should think not.”

“ _And_ on other news, I’ve been making edible insects lately,” Harry said, looking firmly away from Draco.

“ I thought insects were _already_ edible, deep-fried,” Draco said.

“Oh, I’ve never actually had insects before. At least, not on purpose,” Harry admitted. “But these are _chocolate_ insects. Almost like chocolate frogs, you know? _But_ Ron and I added red and blue sugar syrup inside of them to mimic blood when you eat them, and they even chirrup or buzz around.”

“That is...amusing, I’m sure.”

“I’ve been thinking...”

“Don’t think too hard,” Draco murmured.

Harry rolled his eyes. “Or what, I’ll become like you? About whether I should get a job, or something.”

“You don’t want to be a layabout anymore?” Draco said, affecting surprise. He smiled innocently when Harry kicked him under the table. “Found too much free time on your hands?”

“Surprisingly, your house doesn’t need near as much maintenance as Grimmauld Place.”

“But you still have to do _something_ about Grimmauld Place. You cannot just _leave_ it there.”

Harry groaned. “I know. I’ve been trying not to think about it. Give me a couple of days to muster up some effort, will you? Hermione thinks I should do a bake sale. Lee wants me to do a magazine food spread. Bill thinks a restaurant. _You_ think I should go the Bake Off.”

“I’m currently in the phase of making lists,” Draco offered. “Maybe you should do the easiest, lowest commitment thing first, and work your way up.”

“Lee, then,” Harry said, sounding a bit down. “I guess I’ll contact him.”

Draco raised his eyebrows. “It might help the public think of you as something _other_ than the Boy Who Lived Twice, Saviour of Britain, Defeater Of What’s-His-Face, etcetera , etcetera. ”

Harry cracked a small smile. “Yeah. And Lee’s nice. And a bake sale would be productive.”

Draco clasped his hands together. “Well, that’s your near-future life sorted. Draco Malfoy, at your service— _hey!_ ” Draco kicked Harry back under the table...and then decided to leave his foot there. “Hurry up and finish eating so we could get onto _dessert_ ,” Draco said, smiling to himself when Harry started to redden up spectacularly.


	13. Friday 13th October

Harry stared at Grimmauld Place dismally. It looked as though it was getting worse by the hour. He cast a quick protective charm on himself and went inside, feeling maudlin. The windows in the house were all still open, making the house as cold as it used to be before Harry had strong-armed in insulation charms a few years ago.

The troll leg umbrella stand was still there, gruesome as ever. Walburga Black’s portrait had been removed years ago, but the hallway was emptier than usual, with all the photos Harry had hung there over the years now moved to Draco’s place.

Harry remembered standing in the house, talking to Sirius. He remembered the meetings the Order had, clustered around the kitchen, which now had a terrible mess with its partially knocked down wall and crumbled junk littered around it.

He wandered upstairs, to his old bedroom, and to Sirius’ room, and to where Buckbeak had stayed. Out the window, he could see the overgrown back garden, of the red-yellowing tree and the litter of leaves and rubbish.

Harry did a whole round of Grimmauld Place, then another, to check whether _just in case_ he had missed something.

But material-wise, there was nothing of value for him here. He supposed he could take some of the antiques still left and store them in the Black Vault, or give them to Andromeda, or even Narcissa, who would appreciate them more than him.

No, what remained in Grimmauld Place was _memories_ , and at that moment, Harry didn’t think he could knock the place down and put a park there, like he had joked to Ron about. So, half-heartedly, Harry started to clean it up.

:::

Draco could see Harry’s listless movements. They prepared dinner together quietly. They ate dinner together quietly, and Draco made some small talk and gripped about the academics from the arts department. And they cleaned up together quietly. But before Harry could go back to his room, Draco wrapped an arm around him.

“Draco—”

“Harry.” Draco led Harry to the sofa and arranged Harry so that he could wrap both arms around him, with Harry’s head tucked under his chin.

“Not that I’m complaining, but what’s this all of a sudden for?” Harry said, voice slightly muffled from where his head was against Draco’s chest.

Draco made a non-committal noise, instead focusing on the feel and smell of Harry in his arms. There was some research that suggested that liking someone’s scent could predict whether or not you would be attracted to them. Draco had felt it a bit circular (which more than occasionally, he felt the arts and social sciences departments were like—they tend to have _hardly_ a large enough population to run actual _proper_ trials and tests). But there was no denying that he liked Harry’s scent. Draco breathed deeply and rubbed a hand on Harry’s back.

“I went to Grimmauld Place today,” Harry finally said in small voice. “I just don’t know what to _do_ with it.”

Draco’s hand stopped moving. “I know I said yesterday about not leaving it there, but there’s no rush,” Draco said tentatively.

Harry made a noise of protest. “Move your hand, man, or else I’ll have a hot patch on my back.”

Draco snorted, but did as he was told.

After Harry resettled in Draco’s hold, he said, “I half _want_ to just destroy the whole damn place, but when I’m _there_ , I just can’t seem to.”

“Maybe you _could_ try and fix it up, keep it like a museum or memento. It _is_ the Black family home.”

Harry scoffed. “You haven’t seen it lately. Remember how I had that _great_ idea of renovating and just started knocking down walls? Well, those walls are still not there. And _exactly_ , it’s the Black family home. I can’t just—destroy a place where generations of people lived.”

“Talk to Andromeda and my mother, then. _They’re_ the ones who have memories of the place from before. Neither of them are working, so together, I’m sure you’ll have _heaps_ of time to discuss and talk about it.”

Harry elbowed Draco in the ribs. “Lee’s coming tomorrow, here, actually. So look smart, hey? I know they were meant to be food shots, but I think Lee might want to take some lifestyle shoots as well.”

Draco was a cross between horrified at the idea of someone taking pictures of his home, and smug that someone would _want_ to take pictures of his home as an example to look up to. Either way, he said sternly, “Then we’re spending tomorrow cleaning.”

Harry laughed. “Yeah, I thought so.”

They lapsed into silence.

It was when Draco realised that Harry’s eyes were closed, that he said, “Do you want to go to bed now?”

“Only if we keep doing this,” mumbled Harry.

Draco affected a sigh. “Very well then. You’re such a romantic.”

Harry gave him a sleepy smile, and Draco’s heart softened. “Who was the one who started this?” he said back. “Remember how you winked at me and said that last Friday would be a date? Remember when you told me to live here with you?”

“Oh, hush, you,” Draco said, looking away from the person who would be the utter death of him. “Come on, before-bed bathroom routine first.”

“And then cuddles,” Harry said firmly.

Draco blushed despite himself. He had been avoiding that term for as long as he could, but then Harry just _had_ to say it out loud, when Draco hadn’t even bear to _think_ of that term.

Harry wrapped his arm around Draco’s waist and smiled cheekily.


	14. Saturday 14th October

Lee Jordan came a few hours after breakfast. Harry could see that Draco wasn’t quite comfortable with the arty-type that Lee was, though Draco did dutifully show Lee around the cleaned-up house. Draco then left on some ‘errands’, leaving Harry to cook and for Lee to take pictures.

It was an... _interesting_ experience for Harry. He tended to cook in a smooth, flowing, and somewhat haphazard way. But Lee frequently stopped him and re-arranged the half-prepared, half-cooked food for a photoshoot. Harry had thought that taking breaks to eat the food would have been good, except that by the time the food had finished posing and Lee had taken all the pictures, the food had gone cold, because preservation and heating charms apparently messed with the images. Harry had also never realised how _hard_ and _time-consuming_ it was to arrange food nicer—oh, he did so for the dessert he made for Draco last week, but that had a purpose.

Draco returned at lunch time, with Teddy in tow, for which Harry was glad, because that meant between them all, they could finish off the breakfast and lunch.

Harry was mollified, at least, when Lee showed him the pre-processed pictures. Lee had been able to capture the slight _steam_ of the cooking of the sized-down full English, and the repeating, near-seamless picture of Harry slicing the cheese for the sandwich was more mesmerising than it had the right to be.

“We would quite like copies of the finals,” Draco said, when he took a look at them.

Lee nodded. “Of course. Now, it’s dinner time,” he said, giving Harry an encouraging smile.

“I know,” Harry said, and went back to the kitchen.

“But we just had lunch,” Teddy said, trailing after Harry.

Harry turned around and gently stopped Teddy. “Uh-huh, Teddy Bear, I’m cooking. Do you know what you have to do?”

“Umm...” Teddy looked at his feet, then at Lee, then at Draco, and then back to Harry. “I have to be good?”

Harry smiled. “And you have to stay somewhere safe. Why don’t you let Draco put you one of the chairs on the other side of the island so you can watch me?”

“O-kay...” Teddy said, plodding back to Draco.

With Teddy seated on one of the high chairs on the other side of the kitchen island, and Draco sitting next to him (with an entirely too curious look on his face), Harry began the third dish.

When he looked up again, Teddy and Draco had moved to the dining table, a spread of papers and enchanted crayons scattered across the surface. Harry gave himself a moment to stare longingly at them, before pouring out the cooked pasta again so that Lee could take another picture of it.

“Well, that’s all done,” Lee finally said, the words music to Harry’s ears. “The issue should come out in a week, in the weekend edition.” He gave Harry a grin. “How did you like it?”

“Difficult,” Harry admitted. “I can’t tell if I would have preferred a lot of cameras all taking in everything as I was cooking or not, though.”

Lee’s face brightened up. “That’s an _interesting_ idea! You know how preliminary wizarding film is, but if there’s a cooking show with you, the uptake would increase drastically...”

“Or maybe not!” Harry said hastily. “But thanks for coming.”

“It was my absolute pleasure,” Lee said, shaking Harry’s hand. “Please, feel free to owl me if you want to do this again.”

Once Lee left, Draco immediately pushed Teddy towards Harry. “Please, take him off of my hands.”

“How did you get him anyway?” Harry finally got to ask.

“I visited my mother, and Andromeda and Teddy were there.” Draco’s eyes narrowed. “Somehow, they gave him to me to look after.” Draco turned away, muttering to himself.

“Granny said I can have a sleepover at Harry’s new place!” Teddy added helpfully.

“Alright, Draco’s garden needs some cleaning up,” Harry said. “Want to help me? We need to give Draco a rest—he’s old, after all.”

Teddy gave Draco a sympathetic pat. “Let’s, Harry.”

:::

After an exhausting day of playing outside then playing inside with Teddy, Harry was grateful when Draco bundled them all up into Draco’s frankly ridiculously large bed—Harry and Draco on either side, and Teddy happily sandwiched in-between. All toasty and warm with the blankets over their laps, they each had a cup of hot chocolate in their hands—or at least, Teddy and Draco had a cup of hot chocolate, since Harry’s hands were pre-occupied with the picture book he was reading to Teddy.

“And they all lived happily ever after,” Harry finished. “How was it?”

Teddy gave him a sleepy smile. “Thanks,” he said.

Draco swiftly took the almost empty cup from Teddy’s hands before it dropped onto the bed. “Alright, let’s brush your teeth and wash your face, and you’re going straight to bed.”

“I’m already in bed,” Teddy said, slipping down the bed. “I don’t want to get up.”

Draco gave Harry a pained look. Harry grinned and shrugged back.

“Draco, just give him a cleaning charm, just this once,” Harry wheedled. “We love your bed.”

Draco rolled his eyes. “Promise me to brush your teeth extra carefully tomorrow, then.”

“Promise,” Teddy mumbled. “It’s past my bedtime anyway, I’m not allowed to get out of bed.”

Harry snorted. “Well, I’m going to pop into the bathroom quickly.”

“And I,” Draco added.

Teddy looked unconcerned, and Harry followed Draco into the ensuite.

“Not exactly how I expected to spend the day,” Harry said quietly.

Draco, with his toothbrush in his mouth, merely raised his eyebrows in the mirror.

“The only day you don’t work is Saturdays. So, you know, our first Saturday together...” Harry bit his lip and busied himself.

Draco rinsed his mouth and placed a hand on Harry’s shoulder. “In a hurry? Next Saturday will come in a flash,” he said.

Harry opened his mouth, then closed it. “I guess we have a lot time, don’t we,” he said slowly.

Draco remained leaning against the wall, watching Harry finish off, with a thoughtful look on his face. Harry was a bit confused that Draco seemed to be waiting for him. Though, that confusion was quickly cleared up when Draco drew him into a kiss before he could leave the bathroom.

“Another day,” Draco murmured into Harry’s ear.

Harry shivered. He didn’t trust his voice, and only nodded.

When they emerged out, Teddy was fast asleep. Gingerly, Harry got back into bed, and Draco spelled out the lights.

“Night,” Harry whispered.

“See you in the morning,” Draco whispered back.

Harry smiled to himself. He draped an arm over Teddy, his hand resting just so on Draco’s waist on the other side, and went to sleep.


	15. Sunday 15th October

“This is how it looks like,” Harry said, feeling a mixture of embarrassment and sadness, as he showed Andromeda and Narcissa Grimmauld Place.

Draco was off at university; Teddy had been dropped off at the Weasleys. Andromeda and Narcissa had relatively free schedules and had agreed to come by in the morning.

Andromeda’s and Narcissa’s eyebrows went up simultaneously, so reminiscent of Draco that Harry felt a burst of amusement.

“The house has...degraded rather quickly since I’d last seen it,” Andromeda said delicately. “Shall we go inside?”

“Oh, yeah, sure.” Harry quickly moved forward to open the front door. The house was even worse inside, despite all Harry had done to clean it up. Harry hung back while Andromeda and Narcissa wandered through the house: he idly cleaned up some more as he trailed behind them. Once they finished their round, both turned to Harry.

Under their gazes, Harry blurted out, “I wanted to...do _something_ about this place. Clean it, maybe restore it. Or renovate it altogether. But, I don’t know, my plans and thoughts all changed since I’ve now moved in with Draco, you know? I don’t want to just knock the whole place down, but leaving it _empty_ just feels wrong, somehow.” He gave them both a desperate look. “Do either of you want the house? Because then it’s all yours, or I could put it on Teddy’s inheritance, or something.”

“There are many idle Malfoy elves, including some who had previously been Black elves for me,” Narcissa said. “They would welcome the task of restoring this house, I believe.”

“Oh, that’s great!” Harry said, feeling relieved mostly because that was a good and solid plan for the housethat didn’t involve him doing much more. “I’ve put some of the valuable stuff in the Black vaults, which I can take out whenever if you want to put them back where they were originally.”

“Shall I call them?” Narcissa asked.

“Sure,” Harry said.

Narcissa nodded and clapped her hands, saying a string of names. One by one, the elves popped in, and once done, she informed them of their task.

“And if you need to buy anything, you could charge it to the Black vault,” Harry added. “I don’t mind.”

“There’s no need,” Narcisas said. “The Malfoy vaults shall be charged.”

“No, I insist,” Harry insisted.

“No, _I_ insist,” Narcissa said firmly.

Harry looked to Andromeda with a plea for help in his eyes. However, she just smirked unhelpfully.

“ _Fine_ , do it your way then,” Harry said mullishly. “I’ll just be...” Harry vaguely motioned upstairs. “Have free rein of the house.” Harry valiantly ignored Narcissa’s satisfied smile and stomped up the stairs.

Harry went straight for Sirius’s old room, which was actually the neatest room in the house—despite it being the preserved mess of when Sirius had last used it—because Harry had spent most of his time vanishing dust and clearing the air and making sure it stayed exactly the same.

Harry gazed around the room, and then sat down heavily on the bed with a sigh.

It was _years_ since Harry first met Sirius, and nearly as many years since Harry last saw him. There was something so _unfair_ about everything.

Harry closed his eyes, imagining Sirius growing up in this place. The image was sharp in his mind, with details added over the years. Of Sirius, sleeping in the bed, muttering when the sun would come through in the morning; Sirius stepping over the clutter across the floor, putting on clothes and sharpness like an armour to face his family. Maybe Harry’s dad had even stayed over, both of them sitting on the bed where Harry sat now, discussing pranks. Harry felt a sensation of coldness passing through him, like a spectre of the past.

Harry swallowed the lump in his throat. In two weeks it would be Halloween, his parents’ death anniversary.

 _The Resurrection Stone_ , a tiny, dark part inside of him whispered.

At that, Harry immediately stood up. He couldn’t, he just couldn’t. He needed to focus on the current, on the _living_ , dammit. Sirius never liked this place, anyway.

“I’m going now,” Harry called down the stairs before he could reason himself out of it.

“Alright, dear,” Andromeda called back. “Have a good day.”

“I hope so,” Harry muttered under his breath. He disapparated straight _home_ , and spent the next five-six hours labouring away on making extremely difficult sfogliatelle, because that meant he could focus on something with his _hands_ rather than what was happening in his _head_.He finished, and was preservation-charming and packing everything up in preparation to go the Weasleys when Draco returned.

“Good timing,” said Harry. “As soon as you’re ready, we’ll go.”

Draco gave Harry a dry look. “I will never be ready,” he muttered. His gaze turned curious when he looked at what Harry was doing.

Harry shifted self-consciously. “I was baking.”

“Do you make pastry when...” Draco stopped and shook his head.

Harry frowned. “When what? _Draco_...”

Draco shook his head again. “These are those devilishly difficult things from the Bake Off.”

Harry spread his hands over them. “Et voilà, I made them!”

Draco smirked. “Fishing for compliments? Mixing your French with your Italian?”

Harry folded his arms and smirked back. “Delaying the inevitable? Afraid of a couple of Weasleys?”

“Well, come _on_ then.” Draco straightened his tie. “I’m as ready as I can be.”

“Yeah, I love you all dressed up like that, but lose the tie, and the dress robes,” Harry said, stepping over to Draco. He undid Draco’s tie, and threw it over the back of the nearest chair; Draco’s dress robes soon followed.

Draco hummed. “You’re unlucky that I hadn’t decided to wear the robes traditionally, or else I’d be nude underneath.”

Harry blushed. “The Weasleys would make fun of both of us. Put on one of your cashmere jumpers, and I’ll meet you by the floo.”

Harry had Draco floo to the Burrow first, to ensure that Draco wouldn’t back out, and he quickly followed with his large box of pastries. When he saw that Draco had made his way straight to Teddy—who he knew best—Harry had to roll his eyes.

“Draco! And Harry!” was Molly’s exuberant greeting. “It has been quite a long time, Draco. Don’t be such a stranger!”

Harry snickered when Draco was wrapped up in one of Molly’s big hugs.

“You look better,” she said approvingly. “Harry’s been treating you well?”

Draco wrinkled his nose. “Good evening, Molly. And doesn’t Harry treat everyone well? He even made food.”

Harry startled when Molly’s attention turned to him. Hesitantly, he held up the box. “I made sfogliatelle, for either before or after dinner.”

“A right baker, you are,” Molly said fondly. “Come on, let me take that to the kitchen so you can have fun.”

“Don’t you want any help cooking?”

Molly smiled. “No, please go have fun. Draco, come with me.”

Harry, surprised, let Molly take the box off of him. He gave a shrug when Draco gave him a half confused, half anxious look. Molly gently led Draco away, leaving Harry in a room with Teddy and the other kids, as well as Bill and Fleur. Harry realised that they had _all_ been watching, and promptly flushed, more so when Fleur smiled behind her hand.

“Hello,” he said. He looked around and found a tiny space left on the couch between Teddy and Dominique. “I’m just going to sit here, thanks.”

Teddy and Dominique squealed with laughter when he wrapped an arm each around them.

:::

It was, as always, mayhem in the Burrow, as more and more people arrived. Draco eventually appeared back in the living room—Molly had apparently released him—but then _Ron_ , the traitor, intercepted Draco and started to talk to him before Harry could get there. One by one, each different person talked with Draco, and Harry couldn’t even get a seat next to Draco at the dinner table.

And then _after_ dinner—and after dessert when Harry had blushed red for much too long after everyone exclaimed how good his pastries were—there were group card games and board games and entertaining-the-kids games.

It was when Andromeda came to pick Teddy up that finally Bill and Fleur said they had to be off, too, and Hermione had to leave because she had work the next day, and then Draco said he had to leave because he also had work the next day—and it was only then, when Draco and Harry returned back home that Harry _finally_ had Draco to himself again.

Draco immediately slumped down on the sofa. “That was utterly exhausting. I cannot believe you made me do that.”

Harry pressed his lips together in half a smile. “Molly implied strongly that she wanted to see you. What did she say, anyway?”

Draco grinned lazily. “Curious?”

Harry moved Draco’s legs so that he could sit down too. “Very.”

Draco chuckled. “Nothing terrible, I assure you. We talked about what we were doing. What my intentions are with you. How my research is going.” Draco shrugged. “Pleasantries.”

Harry narrowed his eyes. “What _are_ your intentions with me?”

Draco leaned back against the sofa, away from Harry. “That would be telling,” he smirked.

Harry leaned over Draco. “Let’s see if I can get it out of you, hm?”


	16. Monday 16th October

Draco gave Harry a curious look when Harry slipped into the labs quietly mid morning with proper protective robes on. When Draco had left that morning, he hadn’t expected to see Harry again til dinner, after all.

However, Harry just gave Draco a hello, before sitting down at one of the empty tables. He spread some books out and started to work away, _quietly_.

There wasn’t any university rule against it, as far as Draco knew, so he went back to his own work.

“Any reason you came today?” Draco asked over lunch—over the lunch that Harry had packed for him that morning, which had led to the reasonable assumption that Harry wasn’t going to pop in during the day.

“I wanted to spend time with you,” Harry replied sweetly.

Draco scoffed. “Are you at least going to tell what you were doing?”

“Remember that list you told me to make? I’ve done the photo shoot with Lee, so now it’s onto the charity bake sale. It’s a bit sudden, but Hermione thinks I should do it this Saturday, when the magazine spread comes out. You should come help.”

“I was planning on visiting my parents,” Draco said.

Harry grinned. “Need convincing? Just come after, the sale will start round lunch, till whenever everything is sold.”

“I suppose...where is the bake sale being held?”

“Well, Ron offered to make me a temporary space at triple-W.”

Draco’s nose crinkled, and Harry laughed.

“So I’m planning my bakes. Do you have any ideas?”

“Have something with apples,” Draco said immediately.

Harry laughed again. “It’s not for you, but alright, I will. And here I was planning to make everything with pumpkin,” he said, smiling brightly. “I could do pumpkin _and_ apple in one cake, I bet.”

Draco pointed his finger at Harry. “No,” he said firmly. “Will you be staying after lunch? I have a meeting with one of the volunteers.”

“Should I go?”

Draco snorted. “No, they’d love to see you, no doubt. Everyone loved your mooncakes.”

“ _Well_ , since you asked me so nicely, I’ll stay.”

:::

As Draco had warned Harry, someone different walked into the labs after lunch. What Draco _hadn’t_ warned Harry of was the massive black cat that accompanied them.

Draco gave a sigh. “How many times have I said, no pets in the lab? Sara, this is Harry. Harry, Sara.”

“I could play with it outside,” Harry suggested. “And nice to meet you, Sara.”

Sara grinned. “Only if you think you can handle Queenie. You baked those cakes—oh, it was two weeks ago—didn’t you? And it’s great to finally meet the illusive Harry. I hear all about you and your lunches from the arts department researchers.”

“Actually, only two of them were baked, the other two were snowskin mooncakes so they—oh, I’m going to stop talking now,” Harry flushed, when he noticed the blank looks on both Sara’s and Draco’s faces. “Okay, me and Queenie will go outside.”

Queenie gave Harry a measured look, before primly leading Harry out of the labs, whence she demanded Harry to pet her, which he willingly obliged. For all these Queenie was larger than the average cat, she purred exactly the same.

“We’re done,” Draco announced, startling Harry.

“Seems like Queenie likes you,” Sara added.

Harry cleared his throat and got off from the floor. “Yeah.” Queenie gave a meow and padded back to Sara’s side.

Sara gave Draco a nod. “I’ll see you around, shall I?”

“I’m holding a bake sale this Saturday if you want to come—it’ll be at the Diagon Alley Weasleys’ Wizard Wheezes,” Harry said. “I think I’ll make some black cat cookies, after Queenie.”

Sara looked amused. “I’ll see if I’m free. Bye!”

“I think I’ll have to head off now too,” Harry said, once Sara and Queenie were gone from their sight. “There’s dinner groceries to buy, and I want to test out some of the bake ideas.”

“Ah, about groceries. You should charge it on my account.”

Harry scoffed. “It’s _nothing_. And don’t think I didn’t notice all the extra cookware and serving ware that’s been slowly appearing in the kitchen. And you know what, I think I should be contributing to your utility bills. I’ve being using the stove a lot, so I should at least contribute to your gas bill.”

“Perish the thought!” Draco said. “You offered you a place without conditions.”

Harry smiled smugly. “Well, we’re at an impasse. Perhaps we should just leave things as they are. Bye, Draco!” Harry added, and left before Draco could reply, satisfied with himself that he had gotten the last word this time.


	17. Tuesday 17th October

“Here are the recent, most stable batches,” Draco announced to his fellow colleague, Healer Mark Pian from the medical department. “I need you to run the simulations with them.” He gave the box of potions one last look, before placing down on the desk. “I think these might just work, at least for Sara.”

“These aren’t modified Wolfsbane?” Pian asked.

Draco shook his head. “Ideally, these would be taken at least daily, to eradicate the lycan pathogen as quickly as possible, before it mutates.”

“Toxicity level?”

“I was hoping you would determine that, actually,” Draco said. “It would be best to take them as fast and as much as possible. However, it may also interfere with other potions or substances. So the faster you can verify that they’re good for consumption...”

Pian nodded. “Great work, Draco.”

Draco sniffed. “I should think so. I’ll be in my lab if there are any complications. Shall we meet again, in two days?”

“Yes, we should get something through by then. I have a new doctoral student, actually.”

“Should I congratulate you or console you?”

Pian gave Draco a dour look. “Back to your labs, you potions wizard.”

“Gladly.” Draco left the medical department with a spring in his step. All his _in vitro_ tests on samples of Sara’s blood had captured and broke up the lycan pathogens, which her white blood cells could then hypothetically neutralise and remove.

Feeling good, Draco left the lab early, for once. He did a spate of shopping, and when he flooed home, he surreptitiously added some of the new clothes to Harry’s wardrobe. He could hear the sounds of Harry cooking downstairs with the wireless on.

Silencing his shoes, Draco crept up on Harry. When Harry turned away just so from the stove, Draco came up and wrapped his arms around Harry’s waist.

“Surprise,” he whispered. He bit his lip to stop himself from laughing when Harry jumped.

“Draco! It’s not even five yet!” Harry said.

“I’ve gotten a set of potions that might actually work,” Draco said. He loosened his arms, allowing Harry to turn around and face him.

“Congratulations!” Harry gave him a smirk. “Do you want a kiss?”

“I wouldn’t oppose one,” Draco said, sighing when Harry kissed him.

“Now, off to the other side of the counter,” Harry said. “I’m still cooking.”

There was an array of different shaped cookies and cupcakes cooking in various cooling racks, all autumn or Halloween themed, scattered over the kitchen benchtops.

“I bought something for tonight, when we watch the Bake Off,” Draco said, unshrinking the package. “Medlar tarts. They’re a bit forgotten, after all.”

Harry smiled. “A man after my own heart. Now, off with you.”

Draco snorted, but did as he was told, seating himself on the other side of the kitchen island, and they talked as Harry baked and cooked.


	18. Wednesday 18th October

After his breakthrough with the lycan potions, Draco knew that it was pointless to modify it anymore before Pian’s results on it came back. So instead, Draco went around the menial task of fulfilling some other departmental potion orders and worked on the allergy and anti-colds potions.

At lunchtime, Harry appeared (though, at least Draco had _warning_ this time, as Harry had refused to let Draco pack any form of lunch that morning).

“You know, baking is much more exact than cooking,” Harry said

“You don’t make it seem that way.”

Harry grinned. “I’ll take that as a compliment.”

Draco made one last note in his journal, turned off the heat on the cauldron he was working at, cast a standard shield charm, and stepped away from the table. “Let’s go,” Draco said firmly, “before I start poking at it again.”

Harry chuckled. “Alright.” His arm looped around Draco’s and led Draco out. Draco’s office was just across the corridor from his labs.

“It’s a little windy and cold outside, so I hope you don’t mind eating in your office. I, err, _let myself in_ to set up. Your lock seemed to recognise me.”

Draco narrowed his eyes. “ _Really_ now?” He opened the office door with trepidation, relaxing when he realised that Harry hadn’t made _that_ many changes.

Draco’s office comprised of a charmed window and his desk and chair at the further end, and in between was a smaller round table with a couple of chairs, used for when he had visitors to his office. Harry had come in and moved his desk a little closer to the wall, and left only two chairs by the round table. The table itself now had a tablecloth across it, two sets of plates, glasses and cutlery, and a little terrarium in-between.

Draco gave Harry’s hand a squeeze. “Congratulations, I now have high expectations for _every_ lunch,” Draco said dryly. “Can I guess what we’re having today?”

Harry gave a crooked grin as he pulled out a chair for Draco. “Sure.”

Draco smirked. “It was Italian week on Bake Off _last_ week, but you hadn’t made a full proper Italian meal yet, aside from those sfogliatelle. And I know you’re such a romantic.”

Harry rolled his eyes.

Draco smirked and continued, “But you would have wanted to make something refined, hence _seafood_ , or specialty cheeses and meat cuts.”

Harry gave an exaggerated sigh of sadness. “You’ve guessed it all,” he said. “First, we’ll start off with bruschetta with cheese and cured meats, and then I have pasta pescatore.”

Draco sat back, satisfied. “I’m too good for this world, truly.”

Harry scoffed and rolled his eyes.

:::

Harry jerked out of his dreamy gazing of Draco when he heard the sound of _crashing_.

“Did you hear that?” he whispered, slowly putting down his knife and fork.

Draco’s expression was tight, and he immediately stood up. “I did. We should check.”

“Just in case,” Harry nodded. He quickly followed Draco out of the office and to the lab.

There was another crash, this time it definitely sounded as though it came from inside the labs. Draco flung open the door and Harry drew his wand.

With a wave of Draco’s hand, the lights in the labs flared on, revealing _black robed intruders_.

“What are you doing here?” Draco shouted, running towards them. “Put your wands down and _step away_.”

Harry narrowed his eyes when they lifted their wands—in a quick glance, he had seen the broken window, and there was a cauldron on the floor. Harry immediately cast—“ _Petrify!_ ”

Draco flashed him a quick look, and he too cast.

It was a duel, and Harry winced each time another cauldron tumbled to the floor. He could see that Draco was absolutely torn between protecting his work and taking down the intruders. But, between them, and two other potions masters in adjoining labs who emerged to help, they were able to petrify or incarcerate the four intruders. Once everything calmed down, Harry finally remembered to send off a patronus to alert the Aurors, while Draco thanked the two others for their help.

While they waited for the Aurors to appear, Harry took a good look at the intruders and realised that he _recognised_ at least two out of four. One was an Auror who had came to ‘inspect’ Draco’s lab a few weeks ago. Another was someone Harry had seen around the Ministry, whenever he went there to see Hermione or Kingsley.

Harry sighed.

Draco came up next to him, fists clenched. “ _Why_?” Draco growled through gritted teeth. “The lab is a mess. Thousands of galleons in _damages_ , and there’s going to be Ministry _and_ University red-tape after this.”

Harry pointed out the Auror. “Does he look familiar to you?”

Understanding dawned on Draco’s face. “This was an anti-creature attack, wasn’t it? They don’t want to help lycans. I can understand people not wanting to deal with lycans, but to _actively_ stop research that honestly has no relevance to them...!” Draco muttered under his breath. “ _They’re_ the ones who are _monsters_ , destroying property and livelihoods like this.”

Harry gave Draco an apologetic look. He couldn’t reply or comfort Draco though, because at that point, two Aurors arrived, and he and Draco had to focus on answering their questions, and getting the intruders escorted off.

:::

Draco let out a tired sigh when everyone else left but for him and Harry. At least the journals containing his notes were salvageable.

“Do you want me to help you clean up?”

Draco sighed again and shook his head. “You’re not a registered potions master, so you can’t—it’s health and safety regulations.”

“Are you still hungry?”

“I’m afraid not. I just want to get this all cleaned up. _And_ I have to fill in a health-and-safety form for the University, and another one for the insurance claim.” Draco could see that Harry was struggling to think of something to say, but Draco did not have the effort to put in smile. “I’ll be home for dinner though.”

Harry gave a relieved smile. “Alright. I’ll clean up your office before I leave.” He leaned in and gave Draco a quick kiss on the cheek. “See you later.”

Draco let out a breath, and a _tiny_ smile at Harry’s kiss. “I’ll see you.”

Harry left, and Draco turned and surveyed his lab. Bracing his shoulders, he got to work.


	19. Thursday 19th October

Harry was impressed at the progress the house elves had made on 12 Grimmauld Place. The front façade had been cleaned and brightened up, and when Harry stepped inside, the temperature was nice. The troll leg umbrella leg was still there, unfortunately, but the wall paper looked new and clean, and there a number of antiques on display and landscape paintings on the walls.

What Harry liked was that the house elves, and Narcissa and Andromeda, did was more than restore the house to what it was like originally—it felt even better now, with larger windows and brighter lighting. It was starting to look like a place where a family _could_ live: a couple of parents, children, and a big black dog—

Harry winced, and squeezed his eyes shut. _Don’t think about it_ , he told himself firmly.

“Harry Potter, sir!” a voice squeaked. “What can Poppy be doing for sir?”

Harry turned around quickly to see one of the house elves. “Nothing, that’s fine. I’m just looking around. Great job you’ve been doing.”

Poppy pulled at her ears. “Thankyous, sir. Is Harry Potter needing _any_ thing?”

Harry smiled and shook his head. “I’m perfectly fine, please go back to what you were doing before.”

Poppy, after giving him an anguished look, popped away.

Harry sighed and felt his shoulders drop. What would he do _after_ the place was restored? He wasn’t going to move back in, and Andromeda and Narcissa had their own homes to go back to. He could _rent_ it out, but he didn’t _want_ to.

 _Maybe a museum is the right idea_ , Harry thought tiredly. There was nothing else for him to do at the house, so after he rather self-destructively looked into Sirius’ old room again, he apparated away to the supermarkets.

After all, he _did_ have something productive to focus on and to do—it was already Thursday, and the bake sale was on Saturday. He had already planned to spend all of Friday cooking and baking, but there were groceries and extra food-packaging and display-ware to buy, and he needed to acquire some more pumpkins from Hagrid for all the pumpkin flavoured food.

“Oh, my eyes!” was the first thing Harry heard when Draco returned home.

Harry grinned. He knew there was giant containers filled with pumpkin puree that he had spent all afternoon making, and the air was heavy with the sweet scent of pumpkin, and the warm scent of pumpkin spice. “Rejoice in the fact that this is all for the bake sale. Tonight we’re having risotto with absolutely no pumpkin or squash in it.”

Draco dramatically placed a hand on his chest. “Oh, thank goodness! And did anyone tell you how attractive you look while you’re cooking?”

Harry blinked at the sudden change of topic. “N-no?” He started to redden when Draco came closer.

“Those working hands, that confidence that you move with...and that tongue...”

Harry folded his arms. “I have to _taste_ you know!”

Draco chuckled. “I know. Need me to help with anything?”

Harry face-palmed over his glasses. “Okay, Mr non-sequitur, I need you to make some little placards for the different things I’m going to be selling.” He handed Draco his notes. “Their names, and the ingredients, are all listed here, as well as the price.”

Draco smirked. “Will do.”

Harry narrowed his eyes. “You’re surprisingly _preppy_ today.”

“The results of potions came from the Healers. It’s all fine to go ahead, so we’re going to get Sara in tomorrow to get started on it. And some of the other volunteers are coming in tomorrow as well, so that I can take _their_ blood samples and see if I can tailor the potions to them.” Draco smiled very happily, which surprised Harry into giving a wide grin back.

“That’s great!” Harry said. He leaned in a gave Draco a quick kiss. “Now go and help _me_.”

Draco gave a quick smile, and Harry definitely had a measure of disbelief when he noticed that had Draco sat down at the dining table, doing exactly as Harry had asked him, with a _smile_ on his face.


	20. Friday 20th October

“Sara, stay there,” Draco said, when he heard and saw Sara enter his lab. He cast a _stasis_ what he was working on and retrieved the case of potions that he had had ready since yesterday which he had brewed in someone else’s lab while his lab had undergone the last of the cleaning up. “Let’s go to my office.”

“Things going well, then?” Sara asked. “Also, there’s a weird sound coming from your office.”

Draco narrowed his eyes. When he opened the door, however, there was no rearranged room, nor a Harry. Instead, there was an owl with a package. Which was extremely puzzling, because the window in his office was not only closed, but not even _real_.

Draco laid the case on the round table, and told Sara to take a seat, before approaching the owl. The moment he retrieved the package, the owl took off through the open office door.

“Are you going to open it?”

Draco glanced at Sara, then at the package. “I _shouldn’t_...” but then he noticed the handwriting of the words _Draco Malfoy’s Office_. “It’s from Harry,” he said, surprised.

Sara grinned. “Open it. It’s _got_ to be good.” 

Giving Sara a patronising look, Draco opened the package. The moment he did so, the entire thing enlarged, revealing a large box, and two somewhat smaller boxes. Inside the large box was a big chocolate cake, and the two smaller boxes revealed hulled strawberries, and ice-cream spelled cold. 

“Nice!” Sara said. “Can I have some?”

“No doubt that was Harry’s intentions,” Draco said, shaking his head. Inwardly though, he was touched _and_ impressed. He had left Harry only hours ago, and Harry had been absolutely busy making everything for the bake sale. Yet he had had time to do _this_.

“He forgot cutlery, though,” Sara noted.

Draco smirked. “Actually, I have a stock of cutlery in one of my draws.”

Sara’s eyebrows shot up. “ _Really_ now?” 

“Shall we have cake first, or will I tell you about your potions regime?”

“You can tell it to me _over_ cake,” Sara said firmly. 

So Draco fetched the cutlery while Sara took the cake out of the box.

“Found a tiny cake lifter _and_ a tiny knife,” Sara said, impressed, before she enlarged them back to their original size.

“Cut yourself a slice,” Draco said. “Do leave some for the rest of us though.”

Sara nodded, and for a few minutes, they occupied themselves with a slice of chocolate cake, with strawberries and icecream.

Then, Draco told Sara about the case of potions and showed her the schedule she’d have to take them on, as well as the empty tiny tubes that she’d have to fill with a tiny drop of her blood at the end of each day.

“So this _is_ good news,” Sara said with a smile. “I was afraid a moment there that the cake was for comfort. But celebratory cake is even better. Thank Harry for me, will you?”

“Of course. Now, take that case, and I’ll see you next week.”

Sara grinned and left.

And when the other volunteers arrived at their appointment time, one by one, Draco took their blood samples, informed them of his progress, and gave each of them a slice of cake. Each left with a positive expression: from the news, surely, but Harry’s cake was the sweet, sweet icing on top.

:::

The moment Draco got home, he immediately gave Harry a kiss.

“What was that for?” Harry said, sounding amused.

Draco smiled. “I know that you know. Thank you.”

Harry shrugged, his face blushing. “It’s nothing.”

“It was definitely _not_ nothing.” Draco tapped Harry’s nose. “Nothing that you do is _nothing_.”

“Ugh, Draco.” Harry rubbed his nose.

Draco smirked. “And my day went well, thank you. How was yours?”

Harry spread his arms out, and Draco’s gaze followed the motion, taking in all the containers filled with sweet and savoury treats. “I’m knackered, though,” Harry said, dropping his arms down.

With that, Draco revealed a laden plastic bag. “Lucky for you, I bought noddles.”

“And a foot rub?” Harry said hopefully. “I’ve been on my feet all day.”

Draco paused, pretending to consider it. His mouth cracked into a grin though when Harry pouted playfully. “Very well, you drive a hard bargain. I accept your terms.”


	21. Saturday 21st October

The Saturday papers with its weekend lifestyle magazine addition arrived during breakfast, closely followed by a hefty large envelope from Lee.

Harry purposely ignored Draco’s sudden alertness, who had grabbed the magazine. Instead, he opened Lee’s envelope. Harry cleared some space on the dining table and tilted the envelope so that the images slid out.

Harry bit his bottom lip, even as the sides of his mouth curled up. They looked even more stunning than what Lee had shown him: the colours were so vivid, and Harry had to admit that even _he_ looked good in them, if not as good as the food. He briefly went through the images, and then placed them back inside the envelope. On another day, he and Draco could decide which ones would best go on the wall, and the ones that would best go into a photo album.

“Not bad, Potter,” Draco said, eyebrows going up as he scanned the article. “It looks _extremely_ domestic. You’ve undoubted captured the hearts of people everywhere. If they hadn’t been fans of your heroism before, you’ll be fans of your _soft_ side.” Draco looked up and smirked.

Harry flushed and kicked Draco under the table. “Don’t say that!”

Draco rested his head on his hand and sighed dramatically. “Oh, you’re going to be absolutely _mobbed_ at your bake sale today.”

“Ron’ll stop that from _actually_ happening,” Harry said, though he was starting to now doubt that.

Draco grinned. “Is Lee coming to take pictures of the bake sale?”

Harry blinked. “I didn’t think about that. There’ll probably be reporters, I guess. You _are_ coming in the afternoon, right?”

“I said I would, assuming that you don’t sell out by then,” Draco said.

Harry felt anticipation fluttering in his stomach. “You think that’s possible?”

“With you, anything is possible,” Draco quipped.

Harry laughed. “Okay, okay.”

:::

After Harry saw Draco off to visit his mother, Harry also used the floo to call Ron. As promised, space had been made for Harry’s bake sale, and he and Ron spent the late morning taking all the food and signs from the house to the shop and setting up.

“You should have a quick look outside,” Ron said, grinning.

“There’s heaps of people, aren’t there?” Harry said with some dismay.

Ron slung an arm around Harry’s shoulder. “You need to think like a business wizard, Harry. This is a _good_ thing. You’re raising money for charity, after all. And a good thing for Weasleys’ Wizard Wheezes as well,” he added, grinning. “And relax, I’ll be there, helping you. And George is going to limit the number of people who can come inside at the same time.”

“Alright...” Harry trudged towards the shop front and peeked outside. There was even an actual bright orange _queue_ set up outside, with families waiting and talking, and many of them were holding the magazine. Harry swallowed and stepped back. “This is a good thing,” he repeated to himself. He reminded himself why he was doing this: he was being _productive_ , he was raising money for the _Every Child Deserves A Home_ , because he believed it, and wanted to help.

“C’mon Harry!” Ron called. “Let’s grab a quick lunch and I’ll let the floodgates open.”

Harry’s nerves made it hard to eat, but Ron insisted that he’d be thankful for it later.

And then Ron spelled the doors opened and people came in.

At first, Harry was nervous about whether the things he had made were actually appetising or not. Beside from more traditional shaped foods, albeit in autumn fruit and vegetable flavours, he had also made a lot of halloween dedicated treats. There were the oreo black cat cookies, miniature glowing jack-o-lantern pumpkin cakepops, ghostly candy floss, chocolate bats, slime cauldron cakes, pastry latticed mummy-like tarts, amongst an assortment of miscellaneous monster miniature bakes.

And he was afraid that he’d have be all “salesman” like to get them sold. But he didn’t. The public were even _more_ enthusiastic about the bakes than him, and it became a blur of packaging up what people chose and repeatedly exchanging the same couple of sentences of _hello_ , _how are you doing today_ , and _what would you like_. Ron was an absolutely lifesaver, dealing with all the money.

Sara came, after the initial rush had died down, with Queenie.

“Would you like some more black cats?” Harry asked, perking up at the familiar faces. He felt a twinge of disappointment for not being able to pet Queenie.

“You betcha,” Sara said. She perused the selection, and added, “and those pumpkin cheesecake brownies, if you don’t mind.”

“Of course.”

“And your chocolate cake yesterday was _amazing_. You should set up an owl-order dessert business,” she said. “It was all packed really good yesterday.” She handed some money to Ron, and then she leaned in towards Harry. “And you don’t have to deal with crowds,” she whispered loudly.

Harry laughed. “I see. Here you are.”

Sara grinned. “Thanks. See you around at Draco’s labs, I suppose?”

Harry smiled sheepishly. “Probably,” he said. She gave him a quick _bye_ , and Harry turned to the next customer.

When Draco arrived later, he was accompanied with Narcissa, Andromeda, _and_ Teddy. Harry flushed when they all gave him proud and indulgent looks.

“Hello,” he said to them. “What would you like?”

“I want the cats,” Teddy said matter-of-factly. “Harry, can I have some cats?”

Harry glanced at Andromeda, who smiled and nodded. Harry grinned at Teddy. “Coming right up. Andromeda, Narcissa?”

“Those little cheesecake shots look delightful,” Narcissa said. “Two, for Andromeda and I, if you please.”

Harry went about boxing them up for them, and let them pay Ron. Harry turned to Draco. “Came to help or came to watch?”

Draco glanced away to his mother, then back to Harry. “I promised I’ll help, didn’t I?”

“How lovely,” Narcissa said approvingly.

“Fantastic,” Ron pipped up. “Come here, you can take over my job. Harry needs to stay here, obviously.”

Harry gave Ron a dismal expression, but Ron merely grinned. He let Draco through. Harry waved to Teddy and Andromeda and Narcissa.

“The till should be easy enough to use, I’ll show you,” Ron said. After dealing with a few customers, Ron gave Draco a hearty clap on the back. “Now you do it.” Ron shuffled out from behind the bake sale counter and abandoned them.

Draco gave Harry a forlorn look. “I’d hope you’d sold out by now.”

Harry bumped his hip into Draco’s. “I’m not. Thanks for coming.”

“I said I would,” Draco said simply. “Now look lively, Potter, more customers are coming.”

Harry laughed under his breath and looked ahead again.

:::

They sold out by the late afternoon, and Harry left everything for Ron to clean up, and for Draco to count the money, whilst Harry took a much needed sit-down and sandwich.

“Do you want to ever do that again?” Draco asked. “There’s a _lot_ of money here, and you had made a lot of food.”

Harry winced. “Maybe not. Or maybe once a year.”

Draco gave Harry a thoughtful look. “Even Harry Potter gets tired, right?”

“Ha-ha. I know Ron was saying I could do a pop-up temporary thing, but I don’t think I could manage for more than a day. A restaurant is _totally_ out of the question. And no,” Harry added, when Draco’s opened his mouth, “I’m _not_ trying out for the Bake Off, or any other muggle _or_ wizarding cooking show.”

Draco shrugged. “Now you know, at least. And you _can_ just do one-day sales.”

“Sara came by today, you know,” Harry remembered. “She said I could something owl-order thing. Assuming that I wouldn’t be flooded with orders the moment I open,” Harry suddenly realised.

Draco raised his eyebrows. “Ever heard of refusing orders? Or say, accepting only the first ten per day? Or making limited-edition bakes? Or even just making it more pricey?”

“It doesn’t feel quite _fair_ to make it ridiculously expensive,” Harry complained.

Draco smirked. “So you agree that what you bake is in _very_ high demand.”

“That’s mostly because I’m, you know—”

“—an amazing baker? Oh, I know,” Draco said.

Ron emerged before Harry could reply.

“Everything’s all packed up,” Ron announced. “Why don’t you go home and rest? I can send the money to the charity, if you want.”

“How do you _do_ it nearly every day?” Harry said.

Ron shrugged. “Ah, the life of retail get to you, Harry? It’s not the life for everyone,” he added conspiratorially. “I’m sorry, mate, but maybe it just ain’t for you.”

Harry groaned. “My feet are sore.”

Ron motioned to Draco. “Well, I’m not his boyfriend. Help him, will you?”

Draco scoffed, but Harry was grateful when Draco came over and helped him up, supporting him.

“We’ll see you tomorrow,” Harry said, hobbling to the floo.

Ron smirked. “Hmm, yes, tomorrow at the Burrow.”

Harry was confused at Ron’s tone, and Draco clearly wanted to say something, but Harry made the executive decision to floo back home before Draco could interrogate further.

“Take me to the couch,” he told Draco the moment they got home. “And I need a _really_ good foot rub. And a back rub. And a leg rub. And an eye rub.”

“ _Or_ how about I run a hot bath for you will some relaxant oils while I get things prepared for dinner?” Draco suggested.

“ _Or_ how about you run a hot bath for _both_ of us? You helped me today, after all. Aren’t _you_ sore?” Harry wriggled his eyebrows.

Draco mused, “Now that you mention it...”

Harry wrapped his arms around Draco’s shoulders. “Carry me, I don’t want to walk anymore.” When Draco gave him an unimpressed look, Harry added, “Please?”

Draco rolled his eyes, and manhandled one of Harry’s arms off his shoulder. “Don’t complain if I drop you,” he muttered.

Harry’s stomach flipped when Draco scoped his legs up with one hand, supporting his back with the other. When it looked like they weren’t going to fall, Harry cheered. “Let’s go to the bath!”


	22. Sunday 22nd October

Going to the Weasleys’ on Sunday for the second time was marginally easier for Draco, given that he now knew what to expect. Although, he could _swear_ that the family had somehow grew over the last seven days, but when he asked Harry, Harry pleaded ignorance.

“Hey, Draco,” Ron called out. “Come help me.”

“Why don’t you get one of your family members,” Draco said, getting up from the floor where he had been playing with the kids.

Ron grinned. “You’re family now, Malfoy.”

“Oh, the _horror_ ,” Draco retorted. He followed Ron up the stairs.

“We need to clean out the attic, enlarge it out to fit in more beds, you know?”

“So the Weasley family _has_ grown.”

Ron shrugged. “It always is, don’t question it.”

The attic was a small, tight space with all the manner of miscellanea. It wasn’t even high enough for Draco to stand straight.

“I’m going to take all this old junk out to Dad’s shed. It’s probably better for you to clean it, right?”

Draco replied drily, “Ah yes, because your hygiene and definition of ‘clean’ leaves much to be desired.”

Ron laughed. “Yep.” He sweep his wand, levitating every dusty item together. “See you in a bit.”

Draco turned away from Ron and cast a strong _lumos_ charm. There _was_ a window, but it barely let in any light. Draco made it over to it first, forcing the window open to get some fresh, cold air in.

Then he frowned.

The temperature had dropped _much_ more than he’d expect from just opening the window. Narrowing his eyes, he slowly turned around, expecting some kind of enchantment, or person, who had let in extra cold air.

But he was alone. Draco rolled his eyes. He released the _lumos_ charm and cast some small floating balls of light instead so that he could use his wand to vanish all the dust.

Draco shivered, a sense of cold coming on again. He quickly cast a warming charm, but it didn’t seem to do anything.

Then all his lights went out. Draco whipped around, traitorous heart thudding in his chest. He realised that he couldn’t hear the sounds from below, and the light from the window was becoming extremely weak.

Out of the gloom floated a semi-transparent figure, with long limbs and a completely smooth face. Draco swore and cast the strongest _lumos_ he could, but it didn’t penetrate the encroaching darkness.

 _Peruvian Instant Darkness Powder_ , Draco suddenly realised.

His heart continue to thud, even as his brain surmised that this was all a prank, no doubt by none other than _Ronald Bilius Weasley_. Instead of casting a strong light spell, he cast the strongest wind charm he knew, to funnel the powder out through the window, and a general _finite_ on the ‘ghost’.

Then, he stomped down the stairs, immediately seeing Ron waiting for him.

“ _You_!”

Ron shrugged, unapologetic. “What was it that you said about facing your fears?”

Draco folded his arms and rolled his eyes. “I’m not _scared_.”

“Really? It sounded like it from down here.” Ron dashed down the stairs before Draco could grab him. “But hey, come down, there are caramel apples downstairs!”

“Fine!” Draco followed in a more sedate pace. Harry and the kids all had a caramel apple in hand, and Draco came down in time to see Ron grab two.

Teddy came over. “Here Draco, we saved one for you.”

Draco accepted it. “Thank you, Teddy.” He gave the caramel a lick, and then took in a bite of the apple.

Draco was _this_ close to spiting it out. It wasn’t apple _at all_. “What is this monstrosity?” he spluttered.

All the kids burst out laughing, including the man-child Ron, and even Harry had a grin.

Draco pouted. “I can’t believe you all betrayed me. This isn’t apple!”

“Your face was so funny!” Teddy said.

“It’s an onion!” Victoire piped up.

Draco pointed a finger at every person in attendance. “ _You_ , and _you_ , and _you_ , all of you, colluding to trick me with this!” He placed a hand over his heart, and turned his head away. “You have betrayed my trust. I can never, never again...!”

This only made everyone laugh more. Draco poked Ron with his caramel-onion. “Here, you can have it. I’m going to talk with Percy instead, who is _much_ more reasonable than you lot.”

“Aw, Draco, don’t sulk,” Harry cajoled, looking more serious now. “I have an actual caramel apple here for you.”

Draco shook his head. “No thank you, Harry.”

Harry’s face cracked. “You had to admit, your face was priceless. Although I think you’ll be glad to hear that Molly’s cooking dinner tonight.”

Draco rolled his eyes. “I can’t see my own expression, now can I?” He went up to Harry. “My _actual_ caramel apple, please?”

Harry gave him a grin and a caramel apple.

Draco _very_ tentatively bit into it, and met the apple he had been hoping for. Draco gave a satisfied sighed. He waved a hand over everyone assembled. “You have all been pardoned. Dismissed, and let me enjoy my apple in peace.”

“ _I_ bet _I_ can finish my apple faster!” Little Fred said.

“No, _I_ can!” Teddy retorted. Both of them tried to stuff their apples in their mouth.

“Err,” Harry said, “don’t choke?” It didn’t help that Ron joined in on the antics.

Draco smirked, sitting himself down on the couch to enjoy his apple and the entertainment unfolding in front of him.


	23. Monday 23rd October

Harry went to Number Twelve Grimmauld Place. It had been a mere few days since he was last there, but the progress had once again advanced hugely. In fact, he would daresay that Grimmauld Place had finally cleaned up.

There were still some house elves milling around, but it looked like everything was in order. Even the Black Family Tapestry was up, with names un-blasted. Harry could see Sirius’s name and also his own. There was a thin, almost tentative curl that was emerging between his name and Draco’s name.

“The house elves can maintain the house indefinitely,” Narcissa said, coming up next to him. “It is not uncommon to have empty properties.”

Harry sighed. “I suppose.” He gave Narcissa a weak smile. “I guess I’m still feeling a bit too possessive over it to just rent it out, or to turn it into a place the public can come to.”

“And you shouldn’t,” Narcissa replied. “The house is in a Muggle neighbourhood. Having magical folk come in and about is _not_ the way to go. Perhaps, if you were starting a business, you could use one of the rooms as an office. Or you could host events here.”

Harry nodded. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

There was a crashing sound.

Narcissa’s lips tightened. “Let’s go.”

Harry nervously followed her, hoping that it wasn’t more intruders like the ones that had broken into Draco’s lab. As they approached to the dinning room, the air became colder and Harry could make out the sound of...voices?

He and Narcissa stopped at the doorway. Seated around the dining room table were _ghosts_. Some, Harry felt were vaguely familiar, perhaps Hogwarts ghosts, but others, he had no idea.

“Where did you all come from?” he blurted out.

All heads turned to him. Harry swallowed.

“We heard the Black House had been restored to its good-old state,” one ghost said. “We’ve come to investigate. For the entertainment, you understand.”

“Word is that no one lives here,” another ghost added. “I’m _sick_ and _tired to death_ of being around noisy children.”

Harry blinked. “Huh. Right. Um, don’t mess up the house, please?” he mumbled, backing away.

Narcissa gave him an exasperated look. “No one is in _current_ residence. And please thank Mr. Potter for allowing your continued presence here.”

Harry stopped backing away. The ghosts stared at him, and a couple of them muttered a thanks.

“And should I see _anything_ removed, or damaged, you will _not_ get away with it,” Narcissa added, pining them all with a rather terrifying stare. “Now, _who_ made that loud sound?”

The ghosts all looked shiftily at each other. Narcissa’s eyes narrowed. “Why is that pan on the floor? Why is it _still_ on the floor?” she growled.

One of the ghosts jumped out of their seat. “My fair lady, it was I!”

“Pick it up. And put it in the sink so that the house elves may come clean it,” Narcissa said.

“But I cannot pick it up! I’m a _ghost_!”

Narcissa raised an eyebrow, clearly unimpressed. “You dropped it, you pick it up. If you cannot do so...” Narcissa made a sharp motion with her arm, and her wand released from its holster and emerged in the palm of her hand.

The other ghosts muttered and mumbled. The guilty ghost grimaced, but did as Narcissa said, picking up the pan and placing it _gently_ in the sink.

Narcissa re-holstered her wand. “Thank you. Now, good day.” She then took Harry’s arm and led him outside.

“Well.” Harry dusted his trousers. “They seemed alright.”

Narcissa was unimpressed. “I will have to concede that having them there is not _actually_ hindering any of your current plans for the house.

“It looks like it could be a haven for them. A traditional house for old ghosts, which is as good a use as any.” Harry admitted. “I just want to get back to baking, you know?”

“Understandable.”

Harry took a shrunken box from his pocket. “Actually, I baked something for you and the house elves. It’s an earl grey cake, that you can cut up and share. To say thank you.” He held it out and Narcissa accepted it graciously.

“It was not a bother, but I’m sure the elves and I will enjoy your cake,” Narcissa said. “Then, I shall see you on Saturday?”

“Yeah, for the party,” Harry nodded. “See you!”

Narcissa disapparated first. Harry gave one last amused look at the house, at the thought of the ghosts now occupying it (and was impressed if a little scared by Narcissa’s display), before he apparated home.


	24. Tuesday 24th October

Draco and Harry flooed over to Ron and Hermione’s place together, for dinner and after-dinner Bake Off. While Harry had told Draco repeatedly that he needn’t bring anything, Draco had bought some flowers and some stationery regardless.

“Ah, you’re here” Hermione greeted them. “Ron’s in the kitchen cooking.” She and Harry exchanged a hug.

Draco held out the stationery, in part to prevent Hermione hugging _him_ too. “Good evening.”

Hermione smiled and took the gift. “Thanks, Draco.”

“Hey! Come in here, will you all?” Ron shouted.

Draco rolled his eyes, but followed the others to the kitchen. There, Ron was merrily cooking, using quite a lot more magic in his process than Harry did. There was a bake warming in the oven, salmon being grilled on the stove, a salad washing and forming itself, and some chocolate monstrosity that was becoming more and more monstrous with each flick of Ron’s wand.

“Ronald, these are for you,” Draco said in an overly stiff tone. He smirked when Ron took the flowers, which promptly squirted water in Ron’s face.

Ron made a strangled shout. “ _Draco!_ ”

Draco snickered. “These flowers are perfectly beautiful. Why don’t you set them on the dining table?” Harry, who was next to him, elbowed Draco in the ribs. Draco merely winked at Harry.

Ron rolled his eyes and scoffed. “Fine,” he said, levitating the flowers to the other room. “But _actually_ , I have something for _you_.” Two folded items floated into the room, and Ron directed one to Harry and one to Draco.

Draco raised his eyebrows. “ _Clothing_? I would not trust your taste—offence meant.” He unfolded the item: it was a black T-shirt with the words _I’m Draco Malfoy_. Draco rolled his eyes. “ _Obviously_.” Draco glanced at Harry’s.

Harry’s T-shirt, whilst also black, had the words _If lost, return to Draco Malfoy_. “Why am _I_ the one who gets lost?” Harry grumbled.

Ron, meanwhile, was laughing his head off. “I actually have another set,” he said, in the brief moment he was able to stop laughing.

Draco was highly unamused at the second shirt, which was white with the words _If being a prat, return to Harry Potter_. Meanwhile, Harry had _I’m Harry Potter. Just feed him_.

Even Hermione, the traitor, was chuckling into her hand.

“Come on, let’s see you two wear them,” Ron said. “Isn’t that what good friends would do?”

Draco snorted. “Fine, if Harry’s game.”

Harry was shaking his head, but he was also smiling. “Sure, why not? But only if _you_ two also wear something similar.”

Draco had to roll his eyes when Ron rather cheerfully produced two more T-shirts for himself and Hermione. They had _If lost, return to Hermione Granger_ , and _I’m Hermione Granger_. Sighing, Draco took off his sweater and put on the _I’m Draco Malfoy_ T-shirt, which did _not_ fit well at all. As he looked around, it was only a little bit mollified by the fact that _everyone_ looked ridiculous.

Ron grinned ridiculously. “Fantastic. Now go set the table, the food’s pretty much done!”


	25. Wednesday 25th October

On Wednesday afternoon, Harry and Molly gathered all the Weasley kids and Teddy to the Burrow dining table. During the kids’ naps, he and Molly had set and prepared everything: there were mini stations set down the table, all ready to make different treats. There were pretzels to be dipped chocolate and covered with toppings, there were marshmallows and nuts and other miscellaneous pre-made lollies and chocolate that could be combined into rocky road, and there _dozens_ of different moulds paired with lollies-to-be-melted and chocolate-to-be-melted into the moulds.

Harry grinned at Molly, when he saw the awed looks on the kids’ faces. “Remember to make extra for the Halloween party this weekend,” Harry told them. “You can mix together _whatever_ you want!”

The kids all cheered and got down to work. Dominique, perhaps the fussiest of them all, concentrated very deeply, with Molly’s help, to pour the melted lollies into the different moulds, very careful to make different colours of each. Victoire was more refined: she dipped the pretzels in chocolate and rather deftly covered them in nuts and sprinkles and more chocolate chips. Teddy played with pretzels too—he tried to (perhaps _too_ successfully) stick pretzels and lollies and chocolate together into big balls the size of his fist. Little Fred, unsurprisingly, threw everything he could into his rocky road, including crushed up pretzels.

All in all, it was a delicious mess. The kids came away with chocolate and sugar smeared all over their faces and their hands and their clothes, as did Harry and Molly. They _did_ have some bowls filled with treats that the kids had willingly given up to the cause, rather than eating the moment they made them.

“Everyone is going to love these,” Molly said, patting each one on the head and spelling them clean with her other hand at the same time. “Now, go play outside!”

They grinned and did as Molly directed, rushing to get out of the door first, and yelling, “Ha-ha, I’m first!”, and “First the worse! I’m second so I’m the best!”, and “You’re blocking the door!”

Harry and Molly followed them in a much more leisurely pace, sitting down on the garden chairs positioned to watch the kids running around.

“Children are lovely,” Molly said.

“They are,” Harry replied. He blinked when he saw Molly give him a look.

“Have you talked about having children with Draco?”

Harry’s mouth dropped. “N-no! We’re not...not there yet. I don’t even know what I want to do as a job yet!”

“That article last Saturday was lovely,” Molly said. “Lee is such a lovely boy.”

“He was great, and I guess it wasn’t _too_ bad. Did you ever have a job?”

Molly smiled and shook her head. “It takes a lot of time to raise and protect seven children. _And_ all the grandchildren. What is it about cooking and baking that _you_ like?”

Harry twiddled his thumbs. “I...it makes people happy when I cook or bake for them. And I like trying out new things. Ron’s getting me to design some more trick-treats for the shop.”

“A food inventor, then?” Molly suggested. “I heard the bake sale went well. You could do that more frequently. Christmas is coming up, after all.”

Harry scoffed. “Christmas comes earlier every year. I saw Christmas pudding at the shops already. If I do it more often, I’d need an actual shop front or place. And I don’t know if I’m really up for all that face-to-face business with people,” Harry admitted, embarrassed.

Molly patted him. “You could supply cafes, then,” she suggested. “I’m sure any of them would love to have you.”

Harry groaned. “The more suggestions I get, the harder it is to just _do_ something. Maybe I should just be a cook in a restaurant. But I don’t really want to do that. Hermione tells me not to worry about it. She says the average Brit changes jobs every three-to-five years.”

“Perhaps you can hold cooking lessons,” Molly continued. “Or write a cookbook.”

Harry cracked a grin. “Not helping. I _do_ have an idea for my next venture though,” he said tentatively. “I’m working on it, and if it works out, I’ll tell you about it.”

Molly patted his knee. “There’s never harm in trying.” She nodded towards the children. “Why don’t you go play with the kids instead of sitting around with old-me, Harry?”

“You’re not old!” Harry protested.

Molly snorted. “Please, Harry. Go on. Fred! Don’t you want to play tiggy with Harry?”

Harry choked at Molly’s audacity.

Fred immediately caught on and shouted, “Yes! Harry! Harry!” He ran over and pulled on Harry’s arm. With a groan, Harry left himself be pulled up.

“I’m going to count to ten,” Harry said loudly to all of them. “Ten, nine—”

:::

Draco waited till they were both seated for dinner before stating, “You look distracted.”

Harry gave him a puzzled look. “Really?” Harry’s face took on a smirk. “Hmm, Molly said something about children today. Do you want any?”

Draco nearly choked. “You make it sound like we could simply go _shopping_ for some.”

“I don’t see you saying _noooo_ ,” Harry said, nudging Draco’s leg under the table.

“I’m still focused on my work,” Draco said cautiously. “It would be unfair on you.”

Harry looked pensive. “But the future?”

Draco raised his eyebrows. “We have been barely dating for a month.”

“I’ve moved in just barely a week after we started dating,” Harry countered. “That means that we’ll probably get married by next month, and have kids a few months after that, if the current pace is anything to go by.”

Draco just stared at Harry, speechless.

Harry smiled winningly.

“ _I’m_ going to pick the rings. _You_ can pick the children,” Draco finally spluttered out.

Harry giggled. “ _You_ made it sound like you can just buy kids. But think about it? It could be nice. We could adopt some older kids, if you want someone more mature.”

Draco took a deep breath. “I’ll keep that in mind. But this isn’t what you’re all distracted about. The arts department academics have been wondering why they hadn’t seen you round the university of late.”

Harry snorted. “What do you have against the arts department? And I’ve been _thinking_.”

“Careful, your brain may explode,” Draco replied automatically.

Harry gave him an unimpressed look, and said, “I’m going to try something else next, and I’ve started some plans. And there’s been the preparation for the party.”

“Good distractions, then.” Draco smiled and relaxed back.

Harry smiled back. “Yeah, I guess so.” He put a finger to his lip, and said innocently, “Given how fast our relationship has been progressing, we should be due for a big fight soon, right? And _then_ we’ll get engaged soon after that.”

Draco raised an eyebrow. “I _shan’t_ grace you with a response to _that_.”

Harry maintained is faux-innocence.

A few seconds later though, Draco cracked a smile and Harry burst into laughter.


	26. Thursday 26th October

On Thursday afternoon, Harry and Molly gathered the kids to a table they had set up outside, with charmingly irregular pumpkins set on the table, along with some black markers. During the kids’ naps, he and Molly had taken out the pumpkin flesh and stored them away for future cooking.

“Now, a Halloween party is not complete without _jack-o’-lanterns_ ,” Harry said grandly. “So _what_ are we going to do?”

“We’re going to make _jackoland-ten!_ ” the kids replied.

“ _Jack-o’-lantern_ ,” Harry repeated slowly.

The kids repeated the same garbled words they had before, but now with a touch of puzzlement.

Molly took over. “We have _many_ pumpkins to turn to scary lanterns,” she said. “Each of you have a black marker. You can draw whatever design you want, and Harry and I will carve it out for you. Understand?”

Once it was clear that the kids understood (somewhat), Molly gave a demonstration design, in the traditional jack-o’-lantern style.

But, as it some became clear, only the two eldest, Victoire and Teddy, could make a similar design. Little Fred and Dominque were more prone to...abstract shapes and happy faces than anything else, and it was an artistic struggle for Harry to figure out what was meant to be carved out and what was meant to stay.

But, as always, the day finished successfully. Harry and Molly charmed lights into the pumpkins, and together with the kids, they set them around and about the Burrow.

:::

While Harry was down in the kitchen, Draco awaited by the floo for his friends’ arrival.

Pansy arrived first, and the moment she was there, she gave him a once over, and then smirked.

“You’ve been domesticated,” she said gleefully. “I come back from my holiday and this is what I see? You found a man who made you forget about Potter!”

Draco smirked back. “ _About_ that...”

“No!” Pansy gasped. “You _didn’t_!”

Draco’s smirk widened. At that moment, Millicent flooed in.

“Mills!” Pansy grabbed Millicent’s arm. “You _cannot_ believe—Draco’s gone all _soft_!”

Millicent just held up an edition of the _The Daily Prophet_. It had a picture of Draco standing behind the bake sale counter with Harry.

Pansy gasped and grabbed the paper. “Dear Merlin! It’s real! It’s not just your imagination!”

“I detest the implication,” Draco drawled. “And move away from the floo, darlings.”

Pansy was avidly reading the paper; it was down to Millicent to bodily lift and move Pansy, who made absolutely no comment about it.

The floo flared again, and Blaise and Greg stepped out in quick succession.

Blaise gave the room a quick look around as he stretched his limbs. “You’ve redecorated. How charming.”

Greg was much more to the point. “Hey, isn’t that a picture Potter? And Weasleys. Heaps of Weasleys. Food smells nice though.”

Draco looked around the room, feeling warm with all the touches Harry had added to the house. “My _darling_ Harry is downstairs, cooking dinner. I hope you hadn’t expected _my_ cooking tonight when I invited you over. Please, let us go downstairs and meet my lovely _partner_.”

Pansy gave Millicent back her paper and grabbed Draco’s arm instead. “I stand by my words. You’ve become all _domesticated_. So _docile_.”

“You make me sound like I was a wild animal before,” Draco protested, leading her down the stairs.

“You make it sound like he was wild before,” Blaise confirmed drily. “He was never, I assure you.”

Harry was waiting by the table. Draco detached from Pansy and attached himself to Harry.

“Everyone, please meet my _boyfriend_ , Harry Potter.” Draco dared a quick look to Harry—Harry was rolling his eyes but smiling nonetheless.

“We all know who we are,” Blaise drawled. “No need for awkward introductions. I must congratulate you, Harry.”

“On what?”

Blaise shrugged. “On this and that.”

When Harry gave him a look, Draco shrugged in reply.

Harry admirably rallied himself. “Have a seat, then. For starters, I’ve made pumpkin soup.” 

Draco helped Harry serve the starters, and later the mains and the desserts. He noticed that Harry was uncommonly quiet at the beginning, when his friends all chatted about rather in-group topics that Harry didn’t know about. But Harry grew more comfortable, made more comments, started to get more risque as was the habit with this particular group of Draco’s friends.

And Draco’s heart just felt warmer and warmer.

:::

At the end of the night, both he and Harry went up with the group to the floo.

“Great dinner, Harry,” Pansy said.

“You’re a really good cook,” Greg patted his stomach. “Real good.”

“Um, thanks,” Harry said, ducking his head with a smile.

Blaise smirked. “Modesty. An attractive quantity.”

Millicent jabbed Blaise in the ribs, which saved Draco having to do so.

“I must say though,” Pansy continued, raising her voice somewhat. “When should I expect the announcement of your engagement?”

Draco pinched the bridge of his nose, while Harry burst into laughter.

“We were just talking about it yesterday!” Harry told them. “You and me, Pansy, great mind think alike.”

Pansy smiled smugly. “Soon, then. Well, I must be going.”

Draco’s friends—now hopefully _Harry’s_ friends too—said their goodbyes and flooed away.

Draco slung an arm around Harry’s waist, and said his own thank you.

Harry smiled beatifically. “You’re welcome. But if you _really_ want to thank me...I can think of something.”

Draco huffed a laugh. “Lead the way.”


	27. Friday 27th October

Ron rubbed his hands together. “This is great, Harry. Absolutely great.”

They were in the Experimental Labs at Weasleys’ Wizard Wheezes, where Harry and Ron had spent the morning and early afternoon making trick-treats for all the Halloween parties that would undoubted occur that night and over the next few days.

There were, of course, eggs that cracked out chocolate yolks and white-chocolate whites; there were fruit roll-ups coloured white like toilet paper, globules of jelly “water bombs”, and all the chocolate insects and critters Harry had developed previously. Harry had also made some more glowing jack-o-lantern pumpkin cakepops and the black cat cookies.

“Now I can leave, right? You have the recipe spells?” Harry said, itching to _not_ have to stand and sell things.

Ron patted the pile of parchment that they had slaved over earlier, when they were trying to automate the cooking process for the production quantity required. “I do. You’ve been a great help, Harry. I’ll send you your cut on Monday, alright?”

“You don’t have to,” Harry quickly said. “I had fun helping out.”

“Ah, but this is for commercial purposes. You _are_ going to the accept _your_ fair share, and I will not hear any more protest,” Ron said firmly. He clapped Harry on the back. “But yes, you are dismissed.”

Harry wrinkled his nose. “That sounded like I was some lowly student.”

“You can call me sensei,” Ron said agreeably.

“Ha, no thanks,” Harry snorted, wriggling out from Ron’s hold. “I’ll see you tomorrow!”

Harry dropped by the Owl Post Office to collect some information, send a letter to Lee, and book an owl for personal use later. Then, he went home and finished the words and layout for a booklet. All he needed now was to have Lee take some more pictures for him and for Harry to get it all to the Quibbler publishing house.

Satisfied with what he had done, Harry set about cooking dinner.

The sound of the floo alerted him of Draco’s arrival, as did Draco’s uncharacteristic call, “ _Honey!_ I’m home!”

Harry snorted to himself, but continued cooking, up until Draco’s arms came around his waist. At that, Harry turned around, smiling. “Hey there.”

“You look quite happy with yourself,” Draco said, giving Harry a brief kiss.

Harry’s smile widened. “Yeah? _You_ look quite happy with yourself too.”

“ _I_ commented so first. So, cough up your answer.” Draco gave Harry a nudge.

“Things are going well,” Harry shrugged, smiling in what he hoped was a mysterious way. “I have a new project, a soon-to-be temporary business.”

“You’re utterly destroying me with the suspense,” Draco drawled, dipping his nose so that it bopped against Harry’s. “Come on, please tell me.”

Harry’s eyes crinkled. “Hmm, someone you know suggested this. From _your_ work.”

Draco’s eyes widened. “Ah, I see. Of course, I only work with the best, after all.”

Harry huffed a laugh. “And why are _you_ so cheerful? Did you drink a concentrated cheering potion?” he teased.

“ _Speaking_ about people I work with, I’ve gotten Sara’s results back, and I’ve given out the modified regimes for each of the other volunteers,” Draco said. “And it’s been good, really good. There are, of course, some further minor changes I could make, but in essence, it _works_.”

Harry grinned and gave Draco a hug. “That’s great!”

“Still can’t cure the common cold though,” Draco added. “Or common allergies.”

“One thing at a time!” Harry huffed. “But this is great. We should celebrate. I made dinner.”

Draco peeked to the side of Harry’s head, to the stove. “It’s... _pumpkin_.”

“It’s going to be _fancy_ , don’t you worry,” Harry said, shaking his head in exasperation.

“I know.” Draco pressed a kiss into the side of Harry’s head. “I love all your food, even the pumpkin.”

“Really?” Harry infused in as much scepticism as he could. It was somewhat hard though, given how Draco seemed to be sniffing his hair. It tickled.

“ _Really_.”

“Hmm, did I imagine all that complaining a few weeks ago? Did I?”

Draco snorted and gave Harry some space. “Oh, is this what our big fight is going to be about? About how great your cooking is? About how it’s the best cooking in Britain?”

Harry flushed despite himself. “It _isn’t_. And you’re just saying that because you’re my _boyfriend_. You’re _extremely_ biased.”

Draco seemed unperturbed about that. “I’m no stranger to bias,” he said with a sparkle in his eye.

Harry rolled his eyes and huffed. “Fine. We’re going to agree to disagree. Can I cook now?”

“Only if I can watch,” Draco replied quickly.

Harry’s cheeks ached from all the smiling he was doing. “I can’t stop you, can I?”

“Fantastic.” Draco immediately went and sat down behind the kitchen island counter and gave Harry a very dutiful and studious look. “Please, tell me about your cooking process, chef.”

Harry snorted, and went back to cooking. “I’m making an almond glaze for the pumpkin and ravioli. So first, melt the butter, then...”


	28. Saturday 28th October

“How...avant garde,” Draco said, when he saw the lit up pumpkins outside the Burrow.

“I don’t know if the kids would take that as a compliment or not,” Harry replied drily.

“Point out the lollies you made with them, will you?”

“What, so you can avoid them?” Harry opened the door to the Burrow.

Following in after Harry, Draco could see the tables laid out with bowls and plates of food and jugs of beverages. “Nevermind,” Draco said. “I can tell for myself.”

While Draco had seen tasteful uses of orange before, the decorations at the Burrow were anything _but_ tasteful. It was garish, without finesse. If the party solely for the children, Draco might have been placated. But it wasn’t, and all of a sudden, all of Draco’s uneasiness came back.

This wasn’t Samhain. This wasn’t even All Hallows’ Eve.

 _This_ was all commercial. All muggle. All _American_.

He knew that he should be more tolerant, but muggle Americanisms was just too much. Draco tried to remind himself that the party wasn’t on _actual_ Samhain, and that this wasn’t _meant_ to be correct.

Harry touched his arm, startling Draco from his thoughts.

“What’s with that frown on your face?” Harry murmured. “It’s meant to be a party. It’s meant to be _fun_. I’ve planned some children’s games, and I wanted to do a mini-pumpkin hunt first, while there’s still light outside.”

Draco forced a smile. Children’s games. He could do that. “Oh, I was just thinking. Do you need any help hiding the pumpkins?”

Harry maintained his sceptical look, but eventually nodded.

:::

Draco felt his resolve to ignore the Halloween party fall away when someone started playing music and expected _everyone_ to dance. He had been doing alright supervising all the games for the children; he had managed to hold on through some of the joint kids-and-adults games.

Draco _could_ dance. But not to _this_.

Harry, by the music box, gave him a smile across the room, beckoning Draco over.

Draco winced and shook his head, and headed out back door. Percy and Fleur were out the back, chatting. Draco gave them a nod and kept walking further, until the glow from the pumpkins had almost faded away.

“Draco?”

Draco’s stomach flipped as he turned around to meet Harry. “Yes?”

“You’ve been out-of-sorts all night,” Harry said, mouth twisting in dismay.

“It’s...not for me,” Draco said delicately. “I’m tired. If you don’t mind, I might head off home first. I know you and Molly worked a lot on this, and it has been fantastic—”

“Don’t lie to me,” Harry interrupted. “I _know_ when you’re happy. And you’re not.”

“I’m tired,” Draco repeated. “I have work tomorrow.”

Harry frowned. “You keep using work as an excuse. I know you used to skip lunches before I started barging my way in.”

Draco crossed his arms defensively. “My work is _important_. The next full moon is in a _week_. If I can make sure everything goes right, Sara might not even transform at all! And for the other volunteers, I really _don’t_ want them to have to go through a transformation. The Lycan pathogen could mutate when they do, it might become resistant to the potions I’ve given them—”

“You can’t work _all_ the time!” Harry snapped. “You have to spend time with family and friends!”

“Oh, like _you_ know what’s it like to have a job that’s actually _important_ and _life-changing!_ ” Draco shot back. “And why is it you always want me to spend time with _your_ family and _your_ friends? When was the last time you came to the Manor? _That_ was during the damn War! And when was the last time you’ve met _my_ extended family? _Never!_ And I don’t mean Andromeda and Teddy. I have _more_ family.”

Harry crossed his arms too. “Oh, you’re going to be like _that_ , are you? Is it _my_ fault your dad’s a bigot? Is it _my_ fault I don’t want to spend time with your ultra-posh nose-up family? My cooking makes people _happy_ , I’ve have you know! It makes _you_ happy. It’s _just as important_ in it’s own way!”

“You don’t _understand._ You don’t _try_ ,” Draco hissed. “This _farce_ of a party. It’s nauseating! It makes an absolute _joke_ out of something that should be _sacred_ and _contemplative_.”

“You're such a _pureblood_ ,” Harry growled.

“Fine. _Fine_. I’m a pureblood for not liking your overly capitalist _yankee_ party! With its only redeeming feature being that you and Molly and the others made everything yourself instead of buying it in some capitalist institution! And you can thank the _arts department_ for telling me about capitalism.”

Harry stepped away. “I’m staying at Ron’s tonight.”

“Do you want me to send you an overnight bag?” Draco forced out.

“No, that’s absolutely fine.”

“Then, I’m tired, and I’m going _home_.” Draco walked right past Harry. He went around the house, got out of the property, and apparated to an empty house.


	29. Sunday 29th October

Draco woke up feeling unrested. He went through the motions, got ready for work, went to work. But he couldn’t work. He still felt bitter, but now there was also a mess of anger and self disgust and sadness and the need to _do_ something, to _talk_ to Harry.

The thoughts tumbled around his head, none of which were related to work, aside from the useless repetition of the fact that he _should_ be doing work.

Eventually, Draco forced himself away from his lab and flooed home. Harry’s things were all still there. Draco had hoped that Harry would sneak back in during the day under the assumption that Draco was still at work. Draco couldn’t tell whether the fact he _didn’t_ sneak in was good or bad sign.

There was still a stack of parchment and folded up booklets and magazines on the coffee table that clearly belonged to Harry. Recalling Harry’s project, Draco found a reason to go talk to Harry—he could _hand_ Harry his project papers, so that he could continue on it despite the rift.

Decided, Draco collected all the work into a case and floo-called Hermione and Ron’s place. Unsurprisingly, it was Hermione who appeared.

“Draco,” she said, a thoughtful expression her face.

“Hermione,” Draco greeted stiffly. “Is Harry up?”

“Why do you want to know?”

“I have his work, if he wanted it.”

“And?”

Draco sighed inwardly. “And I would like to talk to him. About last night, and everything.”

“Fine. Come on through.”

The flat smelt of a Sunday fry-up. Giving Hermione a nod, he followed her to the kitchen where Ron and Harry were eating brunch.

“Harry, Ron,” Draco greeted. He gave a critical look at Harry: Harry looked a little tired, but seemed mostly fine and happy, up till he noticed Draco.

“Draco,” Ron said. “What are you doing here? Aren’t you usually at work?”

“I usually am,” Draco replied shortly. He turned to Harry. “I have _your_ project things,” he said, lifting up the case. He was aware that Hermione and Ron were listening, but there was nothing he could do about it. “I thought you might want to keep it with you. I’m _not_ implying I want to break up, I’m _not_ implying that you can’t come home—can’t come to the house—whenever you like. I want to talk, but...it takes two to hold a conversation.”

Harry gave a deep sigh. “We should talk. As Hermione says, communication is key in a relationship, after all.”

Draco couldn’t smile at that, even when the others cracked small smiles. “Whenever you’re ready. I’ll be at home. Unless you want to talk somewhere else, somewhere more neutral.”

“Let me finish eating first. I’ll send you owl,” Harry said. “You can leave that here.”

Draco nodded shortly. “I’ll see you, then. Have a nice meal.” Draco placed the case on the edge of the kitchen counter and flooed back home.

He spent the next half hour aimlessly cleaning, going over what he wanted to say to Harry. An owl arrived with Harry’s message to meet at a muggle park. Draco spent his affirmative reply and went to change into something muggle, uncertain at whether the meeting spot was chosen in retaliation to what he had said yesterday, or because Harry wanted privacy.

:::

Harry could sense Draco’s approach, but he didn’t turn to look at him. Instead, Harry continued to watch the exercising muggles and the noisy London birds.

Draco sat down next to him silently.

Harry sighed and turned to Draco. “Draco...we had our first couple fight.”

Draco startled, and Harry felt a little buzz from catching Draco off-guard like that.

“We have,” Draco finally said. “But it’s not nearly as bad as during Hogwarts. Or even right after Hogwarts.”

Harry breathed out, the tension in his chest easing. “No, it’s not. It’s just, the party, me and Molly and the kids worked _hard_ to make it happen. And everyone else had fun. And you’d _known_ about the party for days, and you didn’t said anything. So I just didn’t _understand_ why you suddenly became so—so _mechanical_.”

“I grew up with the old traditions,” Draco said. “Yes, I know not all of them were good ones. But Samhain...what do you know about Samhain?”

Harry winced. “Nothing? We even had Halloween at Hogwarts, though.”

Draco snorted. “For many children, any excuse for a party is a good excuse. Samhain is a festival for the dead, on the night of the 31st October. Which is fitting given that your parents...”

Harry took a sharp breath in. “Right.”

“Right,” Draco echoed. “Hundreds, thousands of years ago, this was the time the sidhe came out. Now, it is a time where we remember those before us. It’s a time to remember the life ahead of us. It’s a time that marks the transition to winter. Different families have their own way to celebrate it.”

“And Malfoys? What do you do?”

Draco gave him a wry smile. “We light fires, we eat in company, we cleanse the Malfoy lands of ill fortune and bad faith. We remember our ancestors.”

“Did...did you want me to come with you to Samhain, then?” Harry asked tentatively.

Draco blinked. “No, you don’t have to. You don’t know my ancestors, after all. I know you would want to remember _your_ family.”

“Or we could do both.”

Draco shook his head. “No, that’s quite alright. If..if things are fine, I would like to visit your parents’ graves with you, before going myself to France—this year’s Samhain. I know you’re trying to be polite, but you _really_ don’t know my extended family.”

Harry cleared his throat guiltily. “I thought about it, and you’re right. We spend a lot more time with my friends than yours. A lot more time with my family than yours. I think—I _should_ visit your parents properly.”

Draco had a small smile. “Please don’t strain yourself.”

“I _want_ too,” Harry stressed. “It’s...some kind of fair. I don’t want something _uneven_ with you about this.”

“The Halloween party _was_ good,” Draco said suddenly. “I just couldn’t separate it from what _I_ know. I could see and taste your handiwork. And what you do _does_ bring joy to people. I may have started to take your cooking for granted, but it’s really a pleasure every time. I’ll make a greater effort to cook, to make it fairer.”

Harry smiled. “Okay, but you’ll have to learn to cook more than apple-based dishes. And _I_ know that your work is important. I know you have deadlines to meet.”

“ _I_ want a proper day out with just you,” Draco said. “But I can’t do next Saturday, because it’s the full moon. And admittedly, I do work overtime.”

“That’s normal for academics,” Harry said, remembering something Draco had said once.

Draco said wryly, “It is, but I have you now. I’m in it for the long haul.” He cleared this throat and looked away.

Harry reached out and grabbed Draco’s hand. “So am I,” he said firmly. “Wasn’t it _you_ who said we had time? We have time to muddle out something that suits both of us, to find our rhythm.” Harry laughed softly. “I feel like we’ve turned to two gay women. Everything’s been moving so fast.”

“Are _you_ saying you’re Ginny and I’m _Luna_?”

Harry guffawed. “That would be insulting to them.”

Draco relaxed back and gripped Harry’s hand. “Our first fight, then marriage and children after, right?”

Harry grinned, but then turned serious again. “What do you want?”

“I want you to meet my family. To learn about the traditions that I follow,” Draco replied solemnly. “And you?”

“I want to spend more time with just _you_ , and I wish you’d take some weekends off. I want you to come with _me_ and do some muggle things.”

Draco let out a breath. “Okay.”

“Okay,” Harry said.

“Will you be coming home today?”

Harry winced. “Can I just—have some more space? I went from seeing you a few times a week to living in the same space as you and I just...”

Draco nodded. “That’s completely understandable. I’m not at work now. Would you like to get lunch together? Our first outside outing?”

Harry smiled. “Okay. But not yet. I’d just eaten.” Harry stood up, tugging Draco up with him. “Let’s go for a walk. The park is big, and I know there’s a lake _somewhere_.”

Draco’s grip on Harry’s hand tightened. “Okay.”

Harry smiled to himself.


	30. Monday 30th October

Harry spent the day first at Lee’s art studio, with Lee taking pictures of the bakes Harry had made back at Hermione and Ron’s place. Then, they both went over the Quibbler publishing house, where Luna helped Harry get his booklets printed.

Then, Harry went home.

The house was quiet, and it was like Harry had never left.

Harry shook his head at himself, feeling silly. It had been two days—a day, really—that he was gone. He left the box of booklets on the coffee table and poked around the kitchen, mildly surprised to find it actually stocked up. He went through all the different ingredients, turning over recipe ideas in his head. He took out some of the things that caught his eye, and started to cook.

:::

“You’re _here_.”

Harry tilted his head. “You didn’t expect me?”

Draco walked towards Harry; he stopped by the kitchen island counter. “I thought I’d see you tomorrow, at the cemetery.”

“Oh.”

“No, I _am_ glad you’re here. And you’re _cooking_.” Draco came closer.

“I’m glad to be back,” Harry admitted. “I used apples with the gnocchi. _Usually_ you would put pears, but suspiciously, the only fruit you had were apples. Different types of apples, granted, but _only_ apples.”

Draco ducked his head. “I didn’t know you were going to be here, or I might have bought the entire grocery store,” he mumbled. “You _know_ I like apples.”

“Pears are similar to apples. I should get you some _crab_ apples,” Harry added.

Draco narrowed his eyes. “Those aren’t really apples.”

Harry shrugged, grinning. “But they’re crab _apples_.”

Draco huffed. “Fine. I’m sure it’s delicious.” He took the last few steps until he was next to Harry.

Harry suddenly felt shy, when they leaned in briefly to kiss. From Draco’s expression, he felt the same.

“Can I help?” Draco said.

“You can,” Harry confirmed. “Can you wash and chop those apples? I want to dip them in a chocolate ganache, if you remember how to make that. _Normally_ I would use strawberries, but there are only apples...”

Draco rolled his eyes. “I know the cookbook that has a ganache recipe,” he said. “And I _can_ follow instructions.”

Harry laughed. “Fine, you can do that, then.”

Draco _accioed_ the relevant cookbook, and set about washing the apples. “How as your day?”

“ _Very_ productive. Slice those apples thinly.” Harry snorted when Draco used spells to cut up the apples.

“I saw a box.”

Harry glanced at Draco. “There are booklets. A menu, of sorts, for a dessert owl-order thing I’m going to do.” He watched Draco start on the ganache—when he was satisfied that Draco _could_ make it, Harry continued, “I’m going to randomly distribute them after tomorrow. So hopefully I won’t be flooded with orders right away.”

Draco raised an eyebrow. “Assuming that someone doesn’t run to the _Daily Prophet_.”

“I have some fail-safes in place. There’s a rota of desserts, and I have a certain maximum number I’ll make per day, and it’s first owl first serve.”

“You’re going to be busy, then.”

“You’re not getting out of the trip to the muggle cinema,” Harry smirked. “We’re going next Monday night, after your work, after mine.”

“I’ve blocked in the Saturday after as our date day,” Draco said. “And if it’s alright, we’ll have lunch with my parents the Saturday after that.”

Harry made an affirmative noise. “Now that you’ve finished that, just dip the apples in, and place them on a tray with parchment paper. The chocolate should firm up while we eat dinner, which is nearly done, I might add.”

“That’s _easy_ ,” Draco said. He levitated the apple slices into the large bowl of ganache, coating them all. While they floated above the bowl, excess chocolate dipping down, Draco prepared the parchment-lined tray, and let the chocolate-covered apple slices rest on the tray.

“You know I can _taste_ your magic?” Harry reminded him.

Draco arched an eyebrow and smirked. “But you’d said it was a good thing.”

Harry scrunched up his nose. “I take that back.”

Draco chuckled. “I’ll set up the table.” He gave Harry a quick kiss on the cheek and peeked at the food. “It looks lovely.”

“Go on,” Harry said gruffly. He couldn’t help but smile when Draco lit up some candles and brought in fresh flowers and turned on some music.

“We’re not going to do this _every_ day,” Draco said, when he saw Harry looking. “But today is special.”

Harry smiled. “I suppose so.”


	31. Tuesday 31st October

Harry’s parents, Remus, Tonks, and Sirius were all buried at the same cemetery near Godric’s Hollow. Together, Harry and Draco cleaned up their graves, and the surrounding graves too. They then set flowers down on all the graves they had cleaned up. Harry had bought lilies for his mum and dad, pink carnations for Remus, bright tulips for Tonks, and dark crimson and yellow roses for Sirius. They also placed down white carnations at every grave.

Harry lingered at Sirius’ grave, feeling guilty for doing so. He startled when Draco’s hand rested on his back.

“Do you want me to step away so you can talk to them?”

Harry opened his mouth wordlessly. He didn’t know what to do.

Draco nodded nonetheless. “I’ll just stand over there. Remember, this is the time when the barrier between our world and the next is thinnest. I think they really _are_ watching over you. They love you.”

Harry swallowed down a lump in his throat. “Okay,” he said, his voice hoarse.

Draco gave him a one-arm hug and stepped away.

Harry talked to Sirius first: about what he had done to Grimmauld Place. He felt his heart lighten as he told Sirius about how ghosts now lived there, about how Sirius would have found it hilarious. He told Sirius about his new relationship with Draco, and how he felt so much more at _home_ with Draco, and he told Sirius about all the new things with his baking he had been doing, and that he believed that Sirius would have loved all the things he had made for the joke shop.

He told Tonks about the joke shop too, and the Halloween party. But mostly, he told Tonks about how Teddy had grown, and all his antics, and the core goodness in his heart.

He also told Remus about Teddy; but in addition, he told Remus about Draco’s research, about how it was _working_ , and how, Draco had high hopes for the pathogen to be completely suppressed at the very least, and entirely eradicated at the very best. Harry firmly believed that Draco would be able to make a cure, and no matter how expensive it may turn out to make, Harry would help fund it to make it accessible if he couldn’t strong-arm the Ministry into providing financial aid.

Ultimately, he knew his parents the least. But it always bought a pang to his heart to realise that he had outlived them, that he was older now than when they had died. He told them about Draco. That he _really_ liked Draco, and that he wished they could have been alive so that Draco could meet them, like how he was going to go meet Draco’s parents. Harry wished they were alive so that they could grill Draco, and even so that they could embarrass Harry with baby photos.

But then he remembered what had happened when Draco first came to the Burrow as Harry’s boyfriend; about Molly’s mysterious talking to Draco.

Harry _did_ have a family—the Weasleys. Molly and Arthur weren’t his parents, but they were his surrogate parents.

“So, I’m happy,” Harry said to them. “I’ve found someone of my own, just like you both did.”

With a lingering look, Harry turned to Draco. Draco immediately walked to him.

“You don’t mind if I talk to your parents too?”

Harry was taken aback. “Not at all.”

“Stay right there,” Draco added.

Confused, Harry shifted just enough so that Draco could stand directly in front of the graves.

“Good afternoon, Ms Potter, Mr Potter,” Draco said. “I want you to know that your son is the best wizard I know, and that all the stories about me that he told you are probably true. I’ve never known a person who is as loving and caring as Harry, and I’m very grateful that he loves me.”

Harry’s heart leapt out of his chest. He had never actually _said_ the words, but they felt true, coming from Draco’s mouth.

“I may not have been your first choice, for Harry, but I promise to do right by him. To love him fully as he deserves.”

Harry’s heart swelled.

Draco continued, “I hope I’m not too presumptuous in assuming that, if you’d been alive, then I would have _eventually_ charmed you both to my side.”

Harry gave a soft laugh, and Draco shot him a small smile.

“And, in another life, I might have consulted you before I did this, but I will once again assume that I would have charmed you both. Harry.” Draco turned to Harry.

Harry startled. “Yeah?”

Draco took out a small box and opened it, revealing two simple silver rings. “We’ve dated for less than a month, so they aren’t engagement rings. Mr and Ms Potter, not to mention Sirius Black, would have killed me if I asked for your hand in marriage so soon.”

That knowledge helped _nothing_ for the beating of Harry’s heart, nor the sudden clamminess of Harry’s palms.

“But.” Draco took out one of the rings. “With this ring, comes with a pledge that I love you. It comes with the promise of commitment. And it comes with the intent that we will one day replace it with an engagement ring, and then wedding ring. If you would accept.”

“I do,” Harry breathed. He bit his bottom lip and held out his hand so that Draco could slip it on. Draco passed the box to Harry, and Harry slipped the second ring onto Draco’s hand.

“Thank you,” Draco breathed.

Harry smiled, heart bursting. Fingers tangled together, they kissed, filled with the warmth for the future, and for the new chapter of their lives.

  


_The End._

  



	32. Extra: Food Notes

The following are the food notes for each day of October.

* * *

[**Sunday 1 st October**](http://archiveofourown.org/works/12245781/chapters/27823455): Harry made cauldron cakes, with custom fillings of pumpkin, and apple, as autumn flavours, and with yuzu, which Harry saw on the Great British Bake Off (in _Sophie’s bake_ ). He shared these with Draco, as part of a lunch-outside spread.

Harry’s cauldron cakes consisted of a charcoal dark chocolate or golden white chocolate shell in the shape cauldron, followed by a thin layer of sponge and an oozing filling inside.

* * *

**[Monday 2 nd October](http://archiveofourown.org/works/12245781/chapters/27831675)**: Harry made fish and chips and mushy peas for dinner with Ron and Hermione, a British staple. Harry, being a chef, choose dover sole for his battered fish, and accompanied it with curry-spiced sweet potato chips, mushy peas, and a tangy coleslaw, aside the condiments of vinegar, lemon and tartar sauce.

* * *

**[Tuesday 3 rd October](http://archiveofourown.org/works/12245781/chapters/27852603)**: To give Draco energy to work hard, Harry made a packed dinner, charmed hot, which included a cup of green tea, a dish with chunks of salmon, slices of avocado and blanched greens with sprinkles of toasted sesame seeds, and ending with dessert, a dark chocolate pudding, topped with chopped nuts and blueberries. This was inspired by the previous week’s Great British Bake Off episode, what had been pudding, and all the ingredients, according to one of Harry’s cook books, were supposed to increase brain power.

* * *

[**Wednesday 4 th October**](http://archiveofourown.org/works/12245781/chapters/27876246): Harry made a _tonne_ of pastries, given that yesterday’s Great British Bake Off episode was pastry week. He made both individual savoury pastries and sweet pastries, for Draco, for Teddy and Andromeda, and for the Delacour-Weasleys, using seasonal ingredients including game meat, squash, beetroot, blackberries, raspberries and figs. For him and Ron and Hermione, he made a single large hand-raised curry pie.

* * *

[**Thursday 5 th October**](http://archiveofourown.org/works/12245781/chapters/27891771): This was the night of the full moon, and given that it had just been the Mid-Autumn Moon Festival, Harry made moon cakes for Draco and the volunteer patients to share. In one golden moon cake, Harry had made a lotus paste filling, with four salted egg yokes. In the other golden moon cake contained sweet and savoury salted pork, nuts, and four salted egg yokes. The white snowskin moon cake contained an egg custard filling, and the dark purple moon cake contained purple yam, and a sweet potato paste shaped into a ball served as the ‘moon’.

* * *

**[Friday 6 th October](http://archiveofourown.org/works/12245781/chapters/27919410)**: Date night with Draco! For the main meal, Harry made a seasonal wild mushroom stroganoff, which he served with rice. He made two identical servings of dessert: each comprised of a “frosted” bubble made from melted sugar, inside which Harry had laid down crumbs from dark chocolate biscuits and crushed hazelnuts, shaped leaves made from matcha icecream, and a flower with thick petals made of cheesecake (double cream, cream cheese, sugar, pureed strawberries) which “flowered” by the power of magic, opening up to reveal mixed berries sitting in a berry sauce and cream.

* * *

[**Saturday 7 th October**](https://archiveofourown.org/works/12245781/chapters/27936756): For breakfast, Harry made a Full English. He fried bacon, eggs, and mushrooms. The tomatoes, cut in half, and the black pudding, in slices, were grilled in the oven along with some hash browns Harry had made previously and frozen. Ron heated up canned baked beans. They had home-squeezed orange juice and a cup of good breakfast tea.

* * *

[**Sunday 8 th October**](https://archiveofourown.org/works/12245781/chapters/27961119): Harry, Ron and the kids had a day out on the scarecrow trail. They ate grilled sausages, kebabs, patties, along with some salad, out of plastic plates with plastic utensils (they eventually gave up on the utensils). They bought soft drinks, and Harry also a couple of ‘gypsy tart’ slices to share, a traditional dessert from Kent.

* * *

[**Monday 9 th October**](http://archiveofourown.org/works/12245781/chapters/27992196): With pumpkin _definitely_ in season, Harry made a well-spiced pumpkin soup, with scattered pumpkin seeds, sage, and a drizzle of a savoury cheese sauce, which was served with crusty bread. For dessert, he made a pumpkin cheesecake to share. Harry didn’t expect it to actually _happen_ , but he and Draco ended up feeding each other little spoonfuls of cheesecake.

* * *

[**Tuesday 10 th October**](http://archiveofourown.org/works/12245781/chapters/28017126): Draco bought food, in part motivated by wanting something decidedly _not_ pumpkin, and also for Harry to take a break from cooking: matcha soba and a number of side dishes to go with it, including dipping sauce, green onion and wasabi, a mix of vegetable and shrimp tempura.

* * *

**[Wednesday 11 th October](http://archiveofourown.org/works/12245781/chapters/28039593)**: Harry spent the day with Ron making many, many different iterations and matches of chocolate insects—mostly milk and white chocolate, with added colours to make them more realistic—and figuring out how to spell in the sweet coloured syrup that would be the blood of the insects, all without it burst out as the charmed chocolate insects moved around. Dinner was something pumpkin themed, presumably.

* * *

[**Thursday 12 th October**](http://archiveofourown.org/works/12245781/chapters/28062846): Draco _actually cooked—_ he made ‘grilled’ pork with apples, which he cooked by preparing all the ingredients and then levitating it over a good strong direct heat that he used to heat up his potion cauldrons. The apple-crumble-cheesecake came together quickly: for any ‘baking’ components, Draco used a levitation and quick direct heat and charm to speed up the re-organisation of the molecules, and for the ‘chilling’ components, Draco again used a spell that quickly cooled and set the cheesecake just so.

* * *

[**Friday 13 th October**](https://archiveofourown.org/works/12245781/chapters/28083423): An unlucky day, perhaps. Harry was feeling down, so he and Draco made dinner together. Harry just threw together a quick stir fry (with pumpkin), and Draco made a Waldorf salad (with apples).

* * *

[**Saturday 14 th October**](https://archiveofourown.org/works/12245781/chapters/28107264): Today, Lee came over to take photos of Harry cooking, and of his food. So Harry made a full English for the “breakfast”, open-faced sandwiches for the “lunch”, and a pasta for the “dinner”. Just before bed, he, Draco, and Teddy each had a cup of hot chocolate, with marshmallows on top.

* * *

[**Sunday 15 th October**](https://archiveofourown.org/works/12245781/chapters/28132725): After visiting Grimmauld Place, Harry made an array of sfogliatelle, with different fillings including chocolate, and jam, candied fruit and cream. They were served after the traditional large Weasley Sunday dinner, which would have included a large roast, baked potatoes, Yorkshires, a mixture of roasted and blanched vegetables, salads, and lovely gravy.

* * *

[**Monday 16 th October**](http://archiveofourown.org/works/12245781/chapters/28160697): Draco had a packed lunch from Harry, which would not have been mere sandwiches. Harry also made some black-cat shaped cookies, which would have been flavoured and coloured with activated charcoal, black sesame, or oreos. He found all three flavours had their own charm.  


* * *

[**Tuesday 17 th October**](http://archiveofourown.org/works/12245781/chapters/28186308): Harry spent the day baking various different things in trial before the bake sale. Draco bought medlar tarts for dessert, which took him a while to find, not that he’d admit that to Harry (given the Forgotten Bakes theme for the Great British Bake Off that night, Draco wanted to buy something very old fashioned and obscure, yet still looked appetising).

* * *

[**Wednesday 18 th October**](http://archiveofourown.org/works/12245781/chapters/28210755): Harry shared a romantic lunch with Draco (before it was unceremoniously interrupted). For an appetiser, he made bruschetta with cheese and cured meats, and the main dish was pasta pescatore—a seafood pasta—which included clams and scallops and mussels, _i.e._ Harry had spared no expense.

* * *

[**Thursday 19 th October**](https://archiveofourown.org/works/12245781/chapters/28241004): Harry prepared a _lot_ of pumpkin puree ahead of the bake sale. For dinner though, he did make risotto, that did not include pumpkin nor related vegetables.

* * *

**[Friday 20 th October](http://archiveofourown.org/works/12245781/chapters/28277862)**: Harry made a big chocolate cake, to be eaten with icecream and strawberries, for Draco and the lycan volunteers, in celebration of the breakthrough that Draco had made. Throughout the day, Harry made many, many different baked goods, both sweet and savoury for the bake sale the next day. Draco had previously said he’d make dinner this night, which meant that he went out and bought noodles.

* * *

[**Saturday 21 st October**](http://archiveofourown.org/works/12245781/chapters/28300260): Today was Harry’s bake sale! He had made pumpkin cheesecake brownies, blackberry cheesecake shots, pumpkin pies, rhubarb and lemon pudding, apple cakes, oreo black cat cookies, miniature glowing jack-o-lantern pumpkin cakepops, ghostly candy floss, chocolate bats, slime cauldron cakes, pastry latticed mummy-like tarts, and an assortment of miscellaneous monster miniature bakes (of biscuits and cookies and cupcakes decorated like monsters and insects and spiders)...

For actual meals though, he had a quick sandwich before the sale, and had a sandwich after it. After his and Draco’s bath, they would have made some proper dinner together.

* * *

[**Sunday 22 nd October**](http://archiveofourown.org/works/12245781/chapters/28334358): It’s the weekly dinner at the Burrow! Harry made caramel apples to share, and he and Ron and the kids tricked Draco into biting into a caramel-onion! Harry _did_ give Draco a proper caramel apple in the end.  


* * *

[**Monday 23 rd October**](http://archiveofourown.org/works/12245781/chapters/28365276): Harry made an earl grey cake for Narcissa and the house elves to enjoy, as a thank you for their help with Grimmauld Place. He had packaged it in a box that would automatically enlarge back to its original size when opened. In fact, he he felt that was getting rather good at this packing thing (in contrast to his ability to wrap Christmas presents!), which made Sara’s idea of an owl-order business more tantalising.

* * *

[**Tuesday 24 th October**](http://archiveofourown.org/works/12245781/chapters/28397564): Ron cooked dinner this night. He made a spiced aubergine bake, grilled salmon, and a watercress salad. He also made chocolate cake with a _tonne_ of chocolate frosting and chocolate bark with chocolate sauce, which he served with some pitted cherries.

* * *

[**Wednesday 25 th October**](http://archiveofourown.org/works/12245781/chapters/28435396): Harry and Molly and all the kids made sweet treats: there were pretzels, marshmallows, lollies, nuts, sprinkles and various toppings, and a _lot_ of melted chocolate. The kids were...creative in what they smashed together. A lot of it was eaten, but some were saved for the upcoming Halloween party.

* * *

[**Thursday 26 th October**](http://archiveofourown.org/works/12245781/chapters/28472444): This night had the dinner party at Harry and Draco’s place, with Draco’s friends, Pansy, Millicent, Blaise and Greg. For the starter, they had butternut squash soup. For the main dish, there was a very cheesy roasted squash lasagna with a nutty pesto, and for dessert, pumpkin flan. To cut through the alternating sweetness and saltiness was a sharp iced mint lemonade.

* * *

[**Friday 27 th October**](http://archiveofourown.org/works/12245781/chapters/28501548): Harry _still_ had a lot of pumpkin, so he made pumpkin ravioli, that went in a dish along with cubes of pumpkin, a cheesy crème fraîche and an almond glaze. He made some little choux buns with pumpkin-cream inside for dessert (inspired by that week’s Bake-Off episode).

* * *

[**Saturday 28 th October**](http://archiveofourown.org/works/12245781/chapters/28536768): The great big Weasley Halloween Party! There were all the lollies and chocolates and treats that the kids made with Harry and Molly, there was pumpkin juice, and caramel apples, and apple bobbing. The main dish included a stuffed jack-o’-lantern bell pepper/capsicum.  


* * *

[**Sunday 29 th October**](http://archiveofourown.org/works/12245781/chapters/28569772): In the morning, Harry had a full English brunch with Ron and Hermione. After he and Draco walked around the park, and explored a bit of Muggle London together, they when to an overpriced food kiosk in one of the parks, and had burgers and chips.

* * *

[**Monday 30 th October**](http://archiveofourown.org/works/12245781/chapters/28606824): Harry made some desserts for Lee to photograph. For dinner, Harry went back home. He made gnocchi, which his paired with apples and Stilton cheese. Draco dipped slices of apple into chocolate ganache for the dessert.

* * *

[**Tuesday 31 st October**](http://archiveofourown.org/works/12245781/chapters/28638880): Harry and Draco only shared breakfast today—Draco cooked. Later in the evening, after they finished visiting the cemetery by Godric’s Hollow, Draco will go to France and eat dinner with his extended family, and Harry would go to the Burrow to eat dinner with his surrogate parents.

* * *

:::

* * *

In the future, Harry would teach Draco how to cook more things; Draco would diligently learn, but subsequently cook it in his own way. Draco would eat crabapples, and will find them delicious. Not as delicious as apples, but he will admit that there is more to fruit than apples.

And one day, Harry would have the bright idea of making a chocolate ball that melts away to reveal an engagement ring inside...


End file.
